Wife of the Wolf, Husband of The Sun
by DiscordantSymphony
Summary: Events changed and the marriage of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell is called off. Rhaegar will marry Cersei Lannister and have gold and silver dragons meanwhile Elia will go north and marry Eddard Stark and from them will spring a great dynasty. Will contain some show elements, slow burn.
1. Chapter 1

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.

Chapter One

The sun of Dorne shinned down bright on to the Water Gardens, the pools and fountains were turned to liquid gold by the light, Elia Martell stood on the balcony and watched as a few children splashed in one of the fountains while a few others were standing atop each other's shoulders in one of the pools, one pair trying to push the other over and into the cool water of the pool.

She spied Arianne and Quentyn sitting in the shade of one of the blood orange trees, under the care of their septa who was reading from her holy book. Tyene was sitting in the lap of her own septa while her sisters were fighting in one other of the other pools, Obara was the stronger and bigger of the two but Nymeria was quicker and she avoided every attempt her older sister made to grab her.

Watching the children at their play never failed to bring her joy but now the joy was tinged with sadness, she had always believe that her own children would one day play with her brothers in the pools but now that, which had seemed so certain not so very long ago, now seemed like something that was an impossibility. It had been only a few short weeks that the news had come to Dorne on the wings of a raven.

Oberyn had lost his mind, he had screamed and raged and roar and rode along the coast and deep into the sands and up into the mountains and demanded that the spears be raised in rebellion, for all Dorne to scream and let the king in the Red Keep hear them, hear all their rage. Doran had to send an entire force of guards as well as Aero Hotah to bring their little brother back before he actually dragged them into a war.

Oberyn had not been happy when he had been brought back last night, the ringing of that argument still blared in her eyes and her entire body was filled with a bone deep tiredness and all Elia wanted to do was crawl in her bed and sleep and sleep and in truth she didn't care that much if she would ever wake up again. She was just so tired of everything at the moment.

The sound of her door opening almost went unnoticed as Elia continued to gaze down into the gardens and only looked up when she heard her name being called. A maidservant was standing in the doorway, her dark eyes shinning with pity like every man and woman in the Gardens for her, like all the men and women of Sunspear, like all the men and women of Dorne.

Poor, gentle delicate Elia who had been so cruelly set aside. She hated it more than anything, Elia wanted to scream and pull at her hair and tear her room to shambles but she knew that she would not. Her mother has raised a gentle noblewoman, despite some small training with a sword that her brother had insisted on. She would endure the insult, and the pity, with as much dignity as only a princess could do.

"Princess, forgive me for intruding but Prince Doran would like for you to attend him." The maid spoke quietly and slowly, almost as if she believe that one word, said in the wrong way might cause her to shatter into a thousand pieces. Elia offered her a gentle smile and nodded as she made her way out of the room.

Elia walked through the halls of the Water Gardens, everywhere she turned their were shrieks of joy from children who were play a dozen different games and one. It was like knives being dragged through her heart. As she walked deeper through the palace, towards her elder brother's solar, the shireks of joy were soon replaced by screams of rage and rants that threatened to turn into tantrums.

Aero Hotah was standing outside the door, guarding her elder brother as ever. If it had been anyone else inside the solar with Doran then the large man would be in there as well but Aero knew as well as Elia did that Oberyn would never hurt Doran, no matter how angry he ever got. The Captain of the guards bent his head in greeting and pulled his longaxe out of the way and Elia opened the door to step inside.

Doran was sitting behind his desk, rubbing at his nose while Oberyn was pacing left and right. A storm trapped in the body of a man, a viper ready to strike at anyone who made a wrong step. When they heard the door open Oberyn looked up with a glare in his eyes but the moment that he saw that it was her his gaze softened but only for a moment before he rounded back on to Doran. "Tell her. Tell her what it is you mean to do?"

Doran looked annoyed for a moment before his turned his attention to her. "Elia, no one is more sorry than I for what happened to your engagement to Prince Rhaegar, I know how fond you were of him and the lose of the opportunity to become Queen is a great loss and I more than understand if you need more time. Alas, as a princess of Dorne you do have a duty."

"He wants you to marry a Northerner, as far North as North goes without going beyond the wall itself." Oberyn jumped in once again, resuming his restless pacing. "He wants you to wed the Stark boy."

"Brandon?" Elia asked with a frown, she had seen the eldest Stark son at one or two feasts and he was certainly handsome. He also seemed to be unbearably arrogant and irritating and Elia could not see herself being happy with him, alas if that was only the biggest problem. "Brandon Stark is betrothed to Catelyn Tully, did Lord Tully break the engagement?"

"Oh no, sweet sister. He doesn't want to wed you to the heir, no. He wants to wed you to the spare. Eddard." It shamed her to think that it took her a moment to try and think of who her brother meant, it came to her soon enough. There had always been a solemn boy near Brandon at those feasts, not as handsome but with enough similarity in features that there was clearly a relation.

"Thank you Oberyn, as it stands it's not as though we have much choice. The King has broken the engagement, Lord Tywin refused betrothing either of his children to either of you. Lord Arryn has no sons and his heir is betrothed, I believe. Lord Tully's son is too young. I am not sending Elia to the Iron Islands and The Tyrells wouldn't have us. The Starks are our only option and Lord Rickard is receptive to the idea."

"Yes, he get's a princess and Elia gets a spare, children who will inherit nothing except perhaps being guardsmen in their uncle's armies and perhaps a little stone keep, if they are lucky." Oberyn was starting to slow his pacing, but Elia, who was used to her little brother's moods, could tell that he was still angry. "Why does it have to be a great house, why not a Dornish house?"

"Because wedding Elia to a Dornish house gets us nothing, the other house would be the only one to benefit from it. Yronwood would be the obvious exception but I am unlikely to consider that." Oberyn scoffed and Doran's eyes narrowed. "House Hightower could be another option, though given the insult you gave Baelor Hightower I would expect that avenue has been closed to us as well."

"If Breakwind is truly so sensitive-

"Oberyn, I warn you I am short of patience-

"May I speak?" Nothing in Elia's voice gave the indication that it was a request, her brothers fell silent and she began to speak. "I am hurt that I have been put aside, I see no point in denying that. And I have never forgotten my duty, Doran I assure you. And, from what I know of him Oberyn, Eddard Stark seems an honourable enough man to me. I would consent to marrying him. Write to Lord Rickard."

Doran looked pleased but Oberyn did not, he didn't look angry. Elia didn't think that she had ever seen her little brother angry at her. What was in his dark eyes now, was nothing short of worry. "The north is cold in Summer, Elia. It's winter now. You aren't well."

"Obie, I am as unwell in the height of Summer as I am in the depths of Winter. I am simply an unwell woman, perhaps a change would be as good as a rest. Don't you think?" She asked gently and Oberyn simply stared at her like he had no idea who she was. Elia sighed and turned to her elder brother. "Doran, I am quite tired. With your leave, I believe I shall retire."

Once she had seen Doran nod, Elia turned and made her way out of the solar. She had only taken three steps before she heard the sounds of the argument resuming. She didn't stop to listen, she simply kept walking with her head held high until she reached her chamber. She crawled on to her bed, curled herself into a ball, and wept.

End of Chapter One.

* * *

 **So. This might be a surprise for some people but I've been wanting to rewrite Chapter One for a long time, I hope that you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think by sending in a review and maybe a follow or a favourite.**

 **With much love.**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	2. Chapter 2

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.

Chapter Two

Eddard Stark had never wished that he had been only a child in his entire life, he loved his siblings a great deal, Brandon was brave and strong and goodhearted, Lyanna was strong headed and knew no fear and Benjen was a sweet and playful lad who loved his older siblings with all his heart who bore no one any ill will.

But at the moment he was wishing he was at least two siblings short, he was sitting on a small chair in Brandon's bedchamber listening as his older brother and sister were once again complaining about their betrothals to Catelyn Tully and Robert Baratheon respectively.

He understood, he truly did. He had been just recently informed that he was to be betrothed to Elia Martell, princess of Dorne. It wasn't that he didn't understand his siblings feelings.

It was just that at this particular moment in time he did not care and did not want to hear their complaining, but it seemed that at this moment in time he could do nothing but bite his tongue and wait for them both to finish complaining.

"It's completely unfair! I've never even meet Robert Baratheon before and now I am expected to marry him!?" Lyanna shouted as she paced up and down the room. "How could Father want me to marry a man like him? He already has a bastard daughter, that girl in the Vale! How could you want me to marry him Ned if you already knew that?"

Ned had to bite his lip at that, it was true that Robert did have a baseborn girl in the Vale, put on one of the serving women of the Gates of the Moon. She was a jolly little thing, to be sure. Little Mya Stone and Robert was extremly fond of her, oft he would ride down the mountain to go and visit her and often Ned would go with him to watch as his friend tossed the little girl up into the air, never failing to catch her, his laughter louder than the squeals of her joy.

He understood why Lyanna was upset, of course. Knowing a man that you had been betrothed too had already forsaken your bed could not be a happy thought to deal with, but at the same time there was nothing for her to be concerned with. Many unmarried lords had bastards before they wed and Robert did not stop talking about how much he was looking foreward to the wedding, he did not doubt that Robert would keep to her bed in the end.

But Lyanna at least had solid enough reason to complain, unlike Brandon. Brandon was going to marry Catelyn Tully, a woman widely believed to be one of the most beautiful woman alive and Catelyn had visited Winterfell in the past few moons as she had struck Ned as a lady of grace, wit and intelligence that more than matched her beauty, so therefore Brandon should have no reason to complain.

But complain he did. and unlike Lyanna he didn't even have a good reason. He did have a reason but it wasn't a good one and as much as he hated to admit it, it was a reason that made Ned ashamed to be Brandon's brother.

Brandon was the wild wolf of Winterfell and he was lead by his passions and had little restraint, thus he slept with every serving wench and servant girl who would let him lay with them. Brandon had been very lucky that so far no woman had turned up at the gates of the castle with a new-born babe in her arms. He had to wonder what Father would do if one did.

Thus he didn't want to marry Catelyn because he didn't want to be tied to woman so he could continue to lay with as many women as he choose to, and it disappointed Ned a great deal. He had always defended his older brother to his father, saying that soon Brandon would grow out of it, so far he had yet to grow out of it.

At least Brandon didn't complain quite as much as Lyanna did but that wasn't saying much at all. At the moment their brother was sitting on his bed nodding along with everything Lyanna was saying, agreeing with every word she was saying against Robert despite the fact he wasn't much better and in some ways was far, far worse.

Lyanna sighed and sat down next to her eldest brother. "I can't believe father is being so unfair." She moaned.

"He isn't being unfair Lya." Ned said with a loud sigh. "We all have to get married eventually, none of us have any real choice in the matter." He supposed that technically speaking he and his brothers had a little more choice, they could go to the wall but there was no chance in all seven hells that Brandon would even consider going celibate, Benjen was a sweet boy not built for it and he would rather get married then freeze to death there despite it being an honourable cause.

"Why are you still defending him Ned?" Brandon said with a disbelieving look on his face. "You're being forced to marry someone who you've never even met aside from seeing her across from halls during feasts."

"Yes I am!" Ned yelled as he jumped out of his chair, knocking it to the floor. His siblings looked up at him in shock and he understood why, he was quiet and somber Ned who never raised his voice and made his disapproval known by how quite and withdrawn he was.

But he had reached the end of his patience and his siblings had forgotten that he was a wolf as well.

"Lyanna, you have two more years before you have to marry Robert, you aren't even betrothed, you are engaged to be betrothed. Brandon, you have another year before you are to marry Catelyn. I am marrying Elia as soon as she arrives, father has sent over the invitations so could the two of you please stop your whining because I do not want to hear anymore of it!" He shouted at the top of his voice.

His siblings stared at him open mouthed before Ned spun on his feet and stormed out of the room with a grim expression on his face.

He was going to the godswood, he needed to pray.

End of Chapter Two.

 **(Please review, favourite and follow.)**


	3. Chapter 3

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.

Chapter Three.

Jamie groaned silently as Cersei was once again going on and on to her engagement to Rhaegar Targaryen, she looked more happy than Jamie had ever seen her, more happy than Jamie had ever made her and gods did the infuriate him.

"I am going to be the queen Jamie! Can you believe it? It's finally happening! Everything that father promised me!" Cersei gigged like a girl and spun. "And Rhaegar, he's so handsome and I am going to be his wife! And have his children, can you believe it!?"

"I can, you have told me enough times." Jamie whispered darkly, gods he wanted to stab something. "I'm going to go and see Tyrion."

"Why do you want see that little monster?" Cersei asked, confused as to why her brother was acting the way he was. She knew that Jamie loved and she loved him but Rhaegar was...Rhaegar was Rhaegar, he was so perfect. Couldn't Jamie at least be happy for her?

"Because I want too and stop calling our brother a monster!" Jamie shouted before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

Cersei sighed before shaking her head, she refused to let Jamie's stupidty ruin her good mood, she had a wedding to plan and Aunt Gemma was coming to help her.

* * *

Elia sighed heavily as she finished packing her chests, in a matter of moments Doran would come and get her and tell her it was time to go and then she would be on her way north, hundreds of miles away leaving everyone she had ever loved behind.

She would also be doing so if she married Rhaegar but at least she would only be a few hundred miles and not thousands away.

She looked up as her door opened and she excepted Doran to be on the other side but it wasn't him, it was Ashara.

"Ashara!" She called happily with a smile, she walked over and pulled her best friend into a hug. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in King's Landing?"

"I was, but my brother called me back." Ashara explained as she hugged her friend back, a warm smile making her pleasant face seem to glow with an inner light. "I suppose that your brother hasn't told you yet?"

"Told me what?" Elia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've been asked to go with you to Winterfell, to serve as your lady in waiting!" Ashara explained as her warm smile grew into an excited grin, being with Elia had always been the reason for some of the best times in her life and going with her best friend to a strange land...it was like something out of a song.

Elia grinned, she suddenly felt a lot better about going if her best friend was coming with her, a piece of home in a strange new surrounding.

"I am so glad Ashara, do you have any trunks?" She asked as she gently lead her friend over to her and sat down with her.

"No, Doran said that the escort will stop at Starfell so I can get my things, my handmaidens are packing for me." Her bright smile suddenly faltered for a moment. "And we will go and pick up Lauryn as well."

Elia bit her lip at the mention of Ashara's bastard daughter, bastards were not something to be ashamed of in Dorne as they were in the other kingdoms but Lauryn was a sensitive subject for Ash, she loved her daughter a great deal but she never told anyone who the father was and she got very nervous when anyone looked at her for too long.

"Well, I look forward too it. I've missed her a very great deal." Elia said, trying to comfort her friend.

Ashara nodded but was clearly not really listening to her friend, she shook her head to clear her thoughts before she began to speak again. "Any way, how are you doing? Your the one getting married and not to the man you've been dreaming about for the better part of a decade."

Elia sighed heavily before letting her body fall to the bed. "Gods I don't know, I was going to be the queen one day Ashara! Now I'm going to be the wife of a second son in a land where if I try and piss it will probably freeze."

Ashara began to gently stroke Elia's hair to try and give her friend some comfort. "If it helps, Eddard Stark is quite handsome in a way and he seems like a good enough man, marriages have been built on worse."

"I said nearly the exact same thing to Oberyn." Elia said as she closed her eyes. "I just wish things were different."

"So do I." Ashara said with a sigh.

The two friends said nothing for a while, just letting their silent presence be a comfort to one another until the room door opened and Doran walked in, an walking stick in his clasped hand. "Are you both ready to go?"

Both women nodded before standing up and walking out of the room, Elia glanced back at what had been her room for the last twenty years of her life before closing the door on it.

Time to start a new life.

For better or worse.

End of Chapter Three

 **(I am really sorry that this is so short but the next chapter should be longer, if you could review, follow and favourite then I would love it. A cookie if you can guess who Lauryn's father is!)**


	4. Chapter 4

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Four.

Ned sighed as he stood outside of his Father's solar nervously, speaking to his father was never normally this difficult for him but right now it seemed as if it was the most difficult thing imaginable. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door and waited for his father's voice to call him in from the other side.

Rickard Stark was a large man, wide shoulders and as tall as two men standing on one another's shoulders despite this Ned knew that his father was a gentle man but even so he couldn't help but still get a twing of the same fear he had held for the man ever since he was a child and he had seen him execute a deserter from the wall.

"Hello Eddard, what is it that you want?" His father asked as he glanced up from the letter that he was writing.

"Father...must I marry Elia Martell? I do not know her and she's a princess and I am only a second son, I would not have a wife who would resent me and-" Ned stopped talking as Rickard held up his hand to stop him.

"Eddard, I am disappointed in you. I expected you to be better than your siblings and do what is expected of you, Brandon and Lyanna continually disappoint me but I expect better than that from you. You will marry Elia Martell and I expect to hear nothing more on the subject. Do you understand?" Rickard asked as he drew himself to his full height.

Ned bowed his head. "Of course Father, I understand." He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before speaking again. "Who are you writing to?"

"Lord Robert and Lady Catelyn, I am inviting them for your wedding. I am hoping that if your siblings spend a little time with them both then they may be able to come to terms with the fact that this is happening wither they like it or not." Rickard sighed heavily. "Now if you will excuse me these letters won't write themselves."

"Of course Father, I won't bother you." Ned bowed his head again and spun on his feet to leave, as soon as he opened the door and was about to step outside but before he could leave his Father sighed once again and told him to close the door and sit down.

"I know how it feels Ned, believe me I do understand. I did not want to marry your mother at first, I did not love her and yet I was being forced to marry her." Rickard stood up and walked over to the fireplace where a fire was still blazing away. "I was certain that it would be impossible for me to make her happy and she would grow to resent me and I her."

Ned was more than a little surprised, it had been years since his father had even mentioned his mother and if any of them tried to he would become extremely upset and would forbid them from speaking of her. "But you did grow to love one another?"

For a moment Rickard was silent. "I am afraid that it was impossible for me to love her as she deserved to be loved, but we had a duty that needed to be done and familiarity breeds content and in time I grew to love her as the mother of my children and a dear friend who's advice I grew to respect and cherish."

Rickard sat back down and stared intently at his son. "You may never love Elia as a wife and she may never love you as a husband, I hope that you do. I pray that you do but if you do not then you will love the children she will give you and like your mother and I before you will find some common ground there and you will come to respect her as a noble companion."

Ned nodded and stood up from his chair. "Thank you father, you've given me a great deal to think about. I will leave you to your writing." He left the room quickly and closed the door behind him.

He needed to speak to his siblings, both about what his father had told him and about their respective betrotheds coming earlier than expected. Hopefully he would be able to soften the blow for them both.

* * *

Rhaegar Targaryen frowned heavily as he heard his mother scream from her room in the maiden vault as his father delivered his tender ministrations, he would give anything to make his father stop but two men of the kingsguard, whom he could not identify due to their heavy helms stood outside the door and they would stop him before he could do anything about it.

He sighed and knelt down next to Viserys and ran his long fingers through his silver hair and began to hum a song that would calm him, he wasn't as close to his younger brother as he should be but he remembered what it was like to have to listen to his father hurt their mother and he knew that he would've done anything to be comforted back then so the lest he could do now was comfort his little brother now.

Viserys eventually calmed down and fell asleep against his chest just as Rhaegar heard the door open down the hallway, he could hear his father angrily muttering as he walked down the corridor and the sound of the armoured boots of the knights echoing down the hall as well.

When the sound faded away Rhaegar picked up his sleeping brother gently and walked down the hall and entered the room, he sighed heavily as he placed Viserys down on his mother's lounger and he walked over to where she was hunched over on the floor.

He gently lifted her head and sighed heavily and he stared at the ugly black swelling on her eye which ruined her beautiful skin. "Oh mother..."

Rhaella shook her head despite the fact that both her eyes were filling with tears. "It does not matter Rhaegar, I am well."

"Father shouldn't be able to do this to you." He protested weakly even through he knew that it didn't matter that his Father shouldn't be able to, it would not stop him.

Rhaella got to her feet with her son supporting her, she walked over to her lounger and sat down next to the still sleeping Viserys. She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled down at him sadly. "It is nothing I am not used to my son, do not worry for me."

Rhaegar bit his lip and looked upon his sweet mother who was bound to a monster, her own brother who had been abusing her for years and made a decision. "Do not worry mother, it won't always be like this. Not for much longer."

 _"Not if Tywin Lannister comes through for me."_ He thought as his mother wiped her head around to stare at him.

"Rhaegar...do nothing foolish." She warned as he started to walk out of the room.

"It is already in motion mother." Rheagar whispered so she would not hear as he left the room, he could only hope that he would live to see his mother and brother and the kingdom free of his father's poisonous influence.

End of Chapter Four

 **(Please follow, favourite and review. The next chapter should be Elia and Ashara arriving at Winterfell.)**


	5. Chapter 5

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Five

As soon as they arrived in the north Elia was freezing, she knew that the north would be cold and had brought thick furs for exactly that reason as had Ashara but there was knowing what the cold was and then actually feeling, she clutched the three furs that she wore close to her to try and stave off the cold that penetrated the wheelhouse.

This was to her home now, this frozen wasteland where there were dozens of miles with nothing around but farms or a small inn in the distance. She took a deep breath to stave off the tears she felt as she remembered the life she could have had, she was a Princess of House Martell she would not bend or brake over something that would never be.

It had taken them around a month but they were nearing Winterfell, only a few more moments and they would arriving at the road that would take them to the ancient castle. Elia took another deep breath to sooth the nervous quiver in her stomach and in a moment her stomach settled.

A course of coos and happy squeals caught her attention and Elia smiled as her eyes drifted to Lauryen who was sitting in her mother's lap, her little legs kicking happily and her grey eyes bright and curious.

Lauryen was one of the happiest babies that Elia had ever seen and it took until they had picked her up from Starfall that Elia had remembered quite how much she had missed her and she could tell by the way that Ashara had run and embraced her daughter that she had missed her too.

Despite being happy with the little girl's presence it was a bittersweet joy, looking at her brought back memories of those she had left behind. Arianne. little Tyrstane. Obara. Nym and little Tyene, how she missed them all and her heart ached that she could be with them again, the goodbye had been painful and full of tears on both sides. Except for Obara who had stormed off, her sorrow a hard emotion for her to deal with so it had become anger.

She missed them greatly, when the Maester had told that her illness would make it difficult for her to bear children her heart had broken. She had wanted to be a mother more than anything else and though the Maester had tried to comfort her by reassuring her that she could still have children it would just be more difficult for her the damage had been done.

She couldn't help but remember how Oberyn reacted when he had found out and that the Maester had made her cry, he had taken up his spear and threatened the poor old man to a duel to the death. If it hadn't been for Doran he probably would've gone through with it as well.

For as long as Elia could remember Oberyn had been her protector, despite the fact he was younger than her he had always protect her from everyone and everything that would do her harm. Doran had protected her as well but in different ways.

And now she was away from her protecters, away from everyone she had ever loved aside from Ashara and daughter.

She took another breath and blinked her eyes to try and clear away the tears, she would not cry. She would not cry.

Ashara took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and Elia looked up and saw the comforting smile on her pretty face. That smile and her eyes said a thousand word even through the wheelhouse was silent except for the sounds of a happy child.

Elia smiled and nodded and looked out the window, her eyes widen at what she saw.

Winterfell. She had heard of it and even seen one or two drawings of it but now she was seeing it in real life and she could hardly believe it, it seemed ancient like it had been where it stood for thousands and thousands of years and it would continue to stand for thousands more.

The stone of the castle was grey and it's towers stretched into the sky, it did not have the luxury or the elegance of the Water Gardens or Sunspear but it had it's own charm, it was mysterious and ancient and as she looked at it she got the feeling that it held a thousand mysteries and even if she spent the rest of her life within those stone walls that she would never discover them all.

The wheelhouse and their escort rode into the castle through the main gate and they then came to a stop, a dornish man dressed in armour of a captain opened the door and held out his hand to help them out, the poor man was clearly freezing and miserable and she could understand why, he only wore leather armour and a very thin wool fur.

Elia took his hand and let him help her out and turned to face the wide open space they had ridden into, underneath a covered bridge stood the people who were to be her new family. She took another deep breath and decided to be bold, she began to walk over to them.

She heard several of her country men and servants carrying her luggage following after her and they stopped short as she did, a few steps in front of the Starks.

A true beast of a man, the largest man that Elia had ever seen and that was including the mountain, stepped forward and despite his intimidating appearance his eyes held a kindness and a wisdom that made her relax. Elia held out her hand and he gently took it and kissed it. "Princess Elia, I am truly honoured to have you hear."

"I am honoured and overjoyed to be here Lord Rickard." Elia said with a gentle smile, she looked down the line of people that were greeting her and she smiled gently when she saw that her soon to be husband was standing next to his father, despite that usually in a situation such as this the father's heir would standing next to the father.

Eddard Stark was no where near as tall as his father but Elia did not mind that, he was still tall but only a few inches taller than Oberyn but wide shoulder where Oberyn was slim. The young man, while not overly handsome all things considered was by no means ugly, his face strongly shaped, his chin covered with heavy stubble and his grey eyes pleasant enough to look at, his brown hair remind her somewhat of some of the sand in Dorne.

He seemed to stare right through her, she imagined that was as he pleased with this arrangement as she was. "A pleasure to meet you Lord Stark, I hope that I am not a disappointment to you."

Eddard shook his and spoke quietly, his voice gruff through not unpleasant. "I could not see how you would ever be a disappointment my lady."

Elia nodded and stepped over to the next person in line, as first introductions went it wasn't as bad as she feared.

The next person in line was Brandon Stark the heir and while his younger brother was certainly not bad looking in any regard it was clear that Brandon was the one who got the looks,with striking blue eyes and brown hair so dark it was almost black and a face that looked like the gods had carved it from marble as well as strong muscles and a wide chest it was clear to see why so many girls were so mad with desire for the so called wild wolf.

He was polite to her and even told a joke that his brother had been born frowning and serious and while it was not particularly funny it did make her laugh, through she did notice in the corner of her eye that Eddard did seem to tense up.

Despite being polite and speaking to her his attention seemed to be drawn to Ashara who had come to stand behind her, or more specifically Lauryn who Ashara held in her arms.

It couldn't be could it? It was difficult to tell, Ashara had purple eyes so her daughter didn't get her eyes from her and she and Lauryn both had dark black hair and both mother and daughter had similar facial features, making it difficult to identify any father.

But the way that lord Brandon was staring at them both...

Elia quickly decided that it wasn't her business and moved down the line, the person standing in front of her this time was Lord Rickard's only daughter, Lyanna Stark. The girl was lovely with long dark hair and the same grey eyes as her older brother and father and a figure that was well on it's way to becoming a woman's.

Despite this the girl greeted her rather coldly with a simple and quick shake of the hand instead of the formal kiss and Elia got the feeling that she didn't like her very much.

The final person who greeted her a young boy around ten years old with sandy brown hair and grey eyes, Benjen Stark, the youngest child. He was a sweet boy and kissed Elia's hand gently and Elia could tell that she liked him already.

Once the introductions were spoken Lord Rickard spoke up. "Now then, Lyanna if you would please show Princess Elia and Lady Ashara to their rooms they will be tired from their journey. I will send a servant to fetch you ladies for when our guests arrive and than we shall go to the godswood so you and my son can say your vows and then will be the feast. Brandon! Eddard come with me, there are still things to discuss."

Lord Rickard walked off after giving a respectful nod to both Elia and Ashara, Ned and Brandon following after him.

Lyanna sighed before walking off, she turned to look over head at both Elia and Ashara. "Follow me then."

Elia and Ashara shot a look at one another and followed the northern girl, they got the feeling that at least one Stark did not want them here.

As they walked after her and Elia's servants followed she suddenly had a strange felling, as if someone somewhere was watching her. Judging her.

But as she looked around to see if she could see anyone, she could see no one at all.

Just the wind perhaps?

End of Chapter Five.

 **(Please review, follow and favourite if you enjoyed this and constructive criticism is welcome.)**


	6. Chapter 6

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Six

Ned was sitting in the main hall to help his father and the servants in making sure that everything was ready for the feast and their guests, it wasn't just Robert and Catelyn Tully coming to the wedding after all. Several northern houses were coming as well, Umber, Karstark, Mormont, Reed, Manderly, Forrester, Whitehill and even Bolton.

The main had was going to under siege and he didn't like that it was mainly due to him, it was his wedding that was bringing this chaos down on to his home and he had hoped that the wedding itself would've been a quite affair but looking back he realised that had been somewhat of a naïve hope. Of course the other houses were invited, he may have been the second son but he was marrying a princess as well as the fact that this would create a link to Dorne were before there had been nothing at all.

Speaking of his bride he had been more than a little surprised, he had seen Elia Martell before but it was always across the way in crowded ball rooms. He had expected a woman dressed in the finest silks and dripping in gold and jewels. And while her clothes were obviously finely made and not something a farmer could buy for his daughter they were nothing that suggested royalty and were actually fairly practical, at least for a southern noble.

His bride to be was also stunningly beautiful, most men spoke of Cersei Lannister or Catelyn Tully or Ashara Dayne, which had been a surprise to Ned through not a completely unpleasant one, and while all these women were certainly visions of loveliness Elia in her own way was something else. Long curled black hair, dark olive skin and full lips with eyes so brown that they were almost black. Her beauty was different and contrasted beautifully with the pale greyness of Winterfell.

He hoped that he had not seemed to cold when they conversed, he did not wish for her to think that he was unhappy with her. He had simply been shy, was she happy with him? How could she be? She was a princess and she was going to marry him, not Brandon. Handsome Brandon, Brave Brandon, Brandon the heir. He was simply Ned and he could not see how that would be enough for her.

He sighed heavily, he imagined that most husbands weren't this depressed on the day of their wedding or at least they weren't depressed for quite these reasons. The sound of gentle footsteps and annoyed murmuring quickly drew him out of his thoughts.

Lyanna had a look of annoyance on her face and Ned had been dreading this, he had hoped that perhaps his sister would surprise him but it seemed that just like how she hated Robert for being her betrothed and how she hated Catelyn for being Brandon's betrothed, she now hated Elia for being his betrothed.

"Did you show Princess Elia and Lady Ashara to their chamber?" He asked as his sister stopped next to him and annoyed expression grew even darker.

"Why was I forced to do that? Isn't it a servant's work?" Lyanna asked with a huff and she played with a loose thread on her blue dress, it was an old dress and their father had been furious when she showed up in the courtyard wearing it, he had tried to send her back to her room to change but by then the Dornish host had arrived.

"I do not know if you have noticed Lya but they have been rather busy lately." Ned said as he tilted his head over to where a group of servants were laying down the plates on one of the great long tables and to where another three servants were having to work together to hand the chandelier. "Besides, it was polite and more respectful for you to do it. What do you think of my new wife by the way?"

"She's a snob Ned, just like all southerners. Did you see the look on her face when I didn't kiss her hand? Like I stabbed a puppy in front of her." Lyanna said with a roll of her eyes before she quickly snatched up a mug of ale from a serving girl who quickly ran by, the girl looked back and looked like she was about to say something before she ran off.

Ned could not keep the heavy frown off of his face, Ned loved his little sister dearly and he knew that she was a good person at heart but it was clear to him and quite a great deal of people that she had been spoilt rotten. When she had been younger their father had very rarely said no to her, neither had he or Brandon to be fair. The only person who ever told her no was their mother and it was clear to him that they should have followed her example more closely.

He missed his mother, she had been kind and gentle but with a strength inside of her that made a formidable foe to any who dared challenge her and a wisdom that made it clear as to why her husband had often sought her council. He still couldn't believe that she was gone, even the heavens seemed to weep for her as the day the interred her into the crypts there had been a snowstorm that even Old Nan had said she had not seen the likes of in her life.

"You should've kissed her hand Lyanna, she's a princess and it's tradition and I do not think she was judging you. Simply confused as to what she had done to upset you." Ned said and felt his frown deepen as Lyanna simply rolled her eyes and took a sip of her ale. "Try and be kind to her, she is in a strange land and far away from all she knows and loves. She does not need you to be cruel to her on top of that."

That at least seemed to have strike a chord, Lyanna sighed and placed her mug down on one of the tables. "Alright Ned, I will try and be nice to her but only if she is nice to me."

"I would expect nothing less." Ned said with a smirk, it was progress at least. Lyanna then gave him a quick hug and left the room, most likely to go and spar with Benjen. Ned shook his head to see if there was nothing to busy himself with until tonight, his father was sitting at the table on the dais working with Maester, clearly even with the size of the great hall it would be a problem finding room for everyone.

Just as he was about to walk over and ask if there was anything that he could do to help he was stopped by the sound of a bellowing voice filling the air. "Ned!"

Ned turned his head and couldn't help but grin at the sight of his best friend walking into the great hall like he owned it, Robert Baratheon was like something out of a maiden's fantasy with strong muscles, striking blue eyes and dark black hair with a full beard. He was always larger than life and he had a massive grin on his face as walked over to his foster brother and pulled him into a hug.

"Damn Ned, it's been too long! And you lucky dog you! Marrying a princess, not that I can blame you through who wouldn't want to be married to Elia Martell? She's beautiful and you know what they say about Dornish women, as beautiful as ladies and as skilled as whores." Robert said with a grin and Ned could only sigh, he loved Robert like a brother but it was clear that he hadn't changed much.

"Robert, would you please not call my future wife a whore?" Ned said and Robert raised an eyebrow in confusion, it was just a joke and it wasn't as if he could be that attached to the serpent already, they wouldn't even lay together until later on tonight anyway.

"Lord Robert." Ned and Robert both turned their heads to see Lord Rickard approaching with the master following behind. "Please forgive me for not coming to greet you, we have all been busy preparing for Eddard's wedding."

"Not a problem at all Lord Rickard, I only came with a few men your servants most likely did not notice me coming, looks like it will be quite an evening. You'll finally be a man tonight Ned!" Ned sighed again and he noticed that his father had a small frown on his face, clearly not liking Roberts bluntness. "And speaking of weddings, where is my lovely bride to be?"

"Why she's-" Rickard's brow furrowed as he looked around the hall, not seeing his daughter he closed eyes and sighed while rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Eddard." His father spoke, his voice equal parts tired and annoyed. "Where is your sister?"

"I am not certain Father, I believe she might have gone to spar with Ben." Ned spoke and his father let out a breath through his clenched teeth, he was clearly stressed and the Maester was clearly concerned about it going by the look on his face.

"Brandon!" Lord Rickard shouted and Brandon, who had been talking to a busty young servant girl with brown hair, turned to face his father. "Go and find your sister and bring her here, tell her future husband would like to see her."

Brandon clearly looked annoyed about being sent on an errand but he knew better than to argue and he soon left the hall, as soon as Brandon left the hall a servant walked in and walked over to his lord. "Lord Stark, forgive me for interrupting but the Tully host is coming up the road now."

"I see, Eddard I will be back in a moment." Rickard left the hall and the Maester followed loyally after him. Robert waited until his friend's father was out of sight and then he threw an arm around Ned's shoulder.

"So, I take it you're pleased with your new wife then Ned." Robert asked with a grin. "Already had a sample Ned? There's no harm in it after all, you marrying her tonight anyway, who cares if there's already a babe in her belly before you say the words in front of your crying tree."

Ned sighed again and was about to say something that he would probably regret later but he was spared when Brandon walked back into the great hall with Lyanna and Benjen following after him and then all of Robert's attention was on to Lyanna who looked furious through she seemed to be attempting to hide, however poorly.

"My lady." Robert breathed. "You're even more beautiful then I imagined." He gently took her hand and gave it a kiss. "I can not wait for us to bed wed, I ensure you that I will do all that is necessary to ensure your happiness."

"Thank you my lord, that is very sweet of you." Lyanna said even through it was clear by the look on her face that she didn't believe what he was saying, Robert didn't seem to notice however as he simply smiled brightly, clearly pleased that he thought he had pleased her.

At that moment Rickard walked back in with the Maester and Lady Catelyn as well as her sister Lady Lysa and several Tully men behind him, Lady Catelyn was truly stunning with her lovely red hair tied into a braid and her stunning blue eyes like a river and a warm smile on her lips, her was quitter and thus seemed to fade more into the background but she was no less lovely with the same red hair and blue eyes and an youthful enthusiasm which was quite infectious.

"Lord Brandon, I have missed you a great deal." Catelyn said softly and with a sweet smile. "Have you missed me?" For somereason the hope in her voice broke Ned's heart, perhaps because that he knew that whatever his brother said to her he knew the true answer, Brandon was utterly uninterested in the woman and had nothing kind to say about her.

"My lady, how could I not?" Brandon said with his typical smile, the one that charmed all the women and infuriated all the boys and was as false as Walder Frey's teeth. Few people had seen Brandon's real smile, Ned, Lyanna and Benjen were the only ones that Ned was aware of.

But Catelyn was blissfully oblivious and her lovely face coloured with a pretty blush, and again Ned felt a pang of pity in his heart. Brandon would not keep to one bed, he was certain of that. Poor Lady Catelyn would be forced to brunt that shame of her husband dishonouring her again and again and it would unfairly be considered her fault by the people, if she was a good and true wife then she would have no problem keeping her husband to her bed after all.

"Are you looking forward to your wedding Lord Eddard? Isn't it so exciting?" Lysa Tully cooed as she glanced around at the main hall, for a moment you would think that was to be the bride today. "I wish I was getting married, father wants me to marry some old lord that asked for my hand, apparently he's one of my father's trusted vassals."

"At least he's a lord, do you remember the look on father's face when you told him that you wanted to marry Petyr?" Catelyn said with a smile and a shake of her head at her sister's foolish behaviour, not noticing how her sister suddenly frowned darkly.

"Just because you think you're too good for him." She muttered so no one would hear her.

"At any rate, Lyanna please show the ladies Tully to their room for the night, Brandon please do the same for Lord Robert." Rickard commanded in his lordly tone that meant he was not to be disobeyed.

"You want me to show Lord Robert to their room?" Brandon said with a smirk and Robert guffawed with laughter and Lyanna grinned widely and while Lady Catelyn and Lady Lysa both tried to act scandalised it was clear to them that they saw the funny side as they couldn't keep the grins off of their faces, even Ned couldn't help but smile a little.

Even their father seemed amused through he was clearly trying to hide it behind mask of lordly and fatherly disapproval. "Please show Lord Baratheon to his own room Brandon and then and your sister come back here, there is still much to do before the wedding tonight."

"Yes father." Both siblings said and left the room with their guests following after them, as soon as they left Rickard placed his hand on his second son's shoulder. "I can see that you are nervous, don't be everything will be fine. I promise you."

"You can't promise something like that father, you can not know that everything will be fine." Ned lamented with a sad sigh, if only one could know the future then you would know if everything would be fine or at least you could take steps to prevent it, but such power was lost to them years ago.

Rickard sighed and shook his head. "Come, there is still much work to do." He walked back to the table on the raised platform with his son and the Maester following behind him.

* * *

"You look so beautiful Elia." Ashara breathed with tears in her eyes.

"Ful!" Little Lauryn said with a smile as she looked at her mother's friend.

Elia smiled and looked down at her wedding dress, it was a lovely red dress with gold embroidery and sleeveless, her forearms were covered in golden bracelets and her long black curls were contrasted lovely with several golden hair decorations which Ashara had expertly weaved into her hair and she was wearing a black clock with the sun and spear of house Martell. "Do you think my lord husband will approve?" She asked with a grin, mainly to try and cheer Ashara up. She didn't want her best friend to cry before she had even said her vows.

It seemed to work as the other woman laughed. "He should be lucky that I won't steal you away and marry you myself." She sighed. "Oh, I love you."

"And I you." Elia said as she pulled the other woman into a hug, kissing her long dark hair. "Why are we talking like we will never see each other again? I will see you tomorrow and every day after."

"Because things will be different, you will be a wife." Ashara said as she continued with the hug. "You will soon have children of your own to rear and a castle to help run and soon my father will want me to marry as well, we know that we will not be together forever."

"No, but we have a long time together still." Elia said before she gently pulled away. "Come, I believe it's time and it won't do to be late for my own wedding."

Ashara nodded and fetched them both two thick furs and handed one to Elia before she picked up her daughter and the three of them left the chamber and made their way to the great hall which a servant had volunteered to bring them to but Ashara had simply taken down the directions from him and told him that they would find their own way there.

It hadn't taken them long, even if they didn't have the directions the sounds of hundreds of men and women having a great deal of fun, shouting, arguing, laughing and telling stories both appropriate for a wedding and not would have guide them far better than any handwritten directions could have.

They walked into the great hall and the noise suddenly died, Elia had to resist the urge to groan as she noticed that a great deal of the northmen were staring at her with obvious lust. Despite how uncomfortable it made her she refused to let it show and she walked down the space between the great tables, being dimly aware of Ashara following behind her, down to where her new family had just stood to greet her.

Despite herself she felt her breath stop in her throat when she saw her future husband, earlier while he had not seemed unattractive by any means he was certainly nothing to write home about. Now he seemed even more handsome than his older brother. His long brown hair was brushed back and following down to the top of his back, his grey eyes seemed to twinkle in the light of the fire and burned with something that she could not recognise and his muscular body seemed to be more obvious to her in his wedding outfit, a black leather doublet and breeches with a long dark cape. His plain, stern face seemed to only added to the image of strength not harm it.

She could be married to worse looking men she had realised and now she realised that she was marrying a man that she was actually attracted too, and when his eyes landed on her and they flashed with an emotion that she knew very well she knew that he was attracted to her.

Brandon Stark was still as handsome as ever but now he had seemed to lose some his previous appeal, despite the fact that he was dressed no differently than his brother expect that he wore no cape. It was all for good however as his only seemed to glance at her before they landed on Ashara again.

Lyanna Stark was wearing a lovely black dress through it had no embroidery, she wore a small simple silver necklace and her hair been done in a simple plat. It worked for the girl however and she still looked lovely as ever.

Benjen was dressed similarly to his older brothers expect that his doublet was a dark blue instead of black, the boy smiled gently at her Elia couldn't help but smile back at the boy, she imagined that she and he would grow to be good friends and it was nice to know that at least one of the Starks liked her.

Lord Rickard stood, dressed the same as his two eldest sons, and spoke firmly, holding a goblet in one of his hands which he raised slightly. "I am not going to make a toast until after the wedding, but I will say that this is an historic day. Today is the day that House Martell of Dorne and House Stark of The North shall be joined for the rest of time. Now my lords and ladies, if you will excuse me and my family for one moment as we adjourn to the godswood so they can say my son and future goddaughter can say their vows."

The lords and ladies nodded and quite a few of them cheered, Elia got the feeling that would keep eating and drinking while they were gone. Lord Rickard came up to her with his children following him and gently took Elia's hand. "Princess Elia, in the absence of your father or elder brothers we will need someone to give you away, but I am unsure as to who. Is there someone in your host that will-"

"I shall do it." Ashara spoke and everyone turned to face her, most with looks of shook expect for Lyanna, who had a look of respect on her, and Elia, who had a look of delight on hers.

"It is usually a man who does it my lady." Lord Rickard said gently, not wanting to offend.

"I understand that, but Elia is my sister in all but blood and name. I am the closest thing she has to family here. I shall do it." Ashara said firmly, clearly not going to take no for an answer.

"Very well." Lord Rickard eventually relented.

Elia nodded more than happy with the way it turned out, she of course would have wanted her brothers to do so but Doran was not well enough to leave Dorne and was certainly not well enough to come all the way north and Oberyen had decided not to come as a form of protest, despite that he knew that it wouldn't do any good. Ashara was a more than suitable alternative.

The small group, as well as Catelyn and Robert who as Brandon's and Lyanna's future spouses had the right to attend the service even through it clearly irritated them, not that said future spouses noticed. Ned wanted Robert to be there anyway, he would like all of his siblings to be present for his wedding, soon left the hall and made their was the stables were they soon mounted their horses.

As they ride Elia felt the eyes of Lord Eddard upon her, he seemed to be impressed with how well she rode. She turned her head to face him and smiled gently, she couldn't help but laugh quietly as her future husband, the grim and serious Eddard Stark blushed adorably and turned his head to watch where he was riding.

It didn't take them long to reach the godswood and the group dismounted from their horses and began to walk through the thick thicket of trees, as the group walked through the dark and mysterious woods Elia noticed that Ashara, Lauryen who of course Ashara had brought with her, Robert and Catelyn all seemed uncomfortable and as much as Elia hated to admit it she was feeling quite nervous as well. There was a sense that she did not belong here.

The Starks did not seem to feel it, if anything they walked as if they were simply going to their bed chambers to turn in for the night. They eventually came to a small clearing where a large pale tree with a carved face crying red tears stood tall.

The feeling of not being welcome was stronger here and Elia had to the fight the urge to run back to the horses. Rickard and Ned nodded and went to stand by the weirwood tree and Ashara gently took her friend's arm and lead her over to her goodfather and her soon to be husband.

"Who comes before the old gods this night?" Rickard Stark asked, his loud voice ringing through the silence of the dark night.

"Elia, of the House Martell, comes here to be wed. A woman grown, trueborn and noble. She comes to beg the blessing of the gods. Who comes to claim her?" Ashara said and while the words were new to her she spoke them as if she had known them her entire life.

Ned stepped forward and spoke softly. "Eddard, of the house Stark. Who gives her?"

"Ashara, of the house Dayne." Ashara spoke firmly.

"Princess Elia, do you take this man?" Rickard spoke and everyone already knew the answer.

"I do take this man." Elia said and Ned stepped forward and gently took her hand, he lead over to the weirwood and they knelt in front of it and everyone was silent as the couple prayed to the gods. Elia was technically of the faith of the seven but she had never been a very strong believer of the gods in any event so she simply said her prayers to anyone who would listen.

The couple then rose together and Ned took of Elia's cloak and wrapped his own, one with the Stark direwolf sewn on to it, around her shoulders signifying that she was under his protection.

The wedding was over and the two were married and while there was no real reason or expectation too, man and wife shared a kiss and for a moment they both saw how this might be a good thing, if they worked at it they could one day, just maybe, be able to love one another.

End of Chapter Six

* * *

 **The next chapter is the actual feast and Ned and Elia's first night together. Keep in mind that Lyanna is a fourteen year old girl and a lot of her behaviour is the result of stupid teenage hormones, not liking her brother's new wife on principal and being spoilt rotten by a father and brothers who did not tell her no and losing the only person who ever told her no at a very young age. It doesn't make it okay I am simply trying to put her attitude in some context.**


	7. Chapter 7

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Seven

 **Fair warning guys, there is a quite a bit of smut in this chapter.**

* * *

The main hall of Winterfell was alive with laughter and singing, the air was filled with the scent of cooked meat, honeyed chicken and baked pies both sweet and savoury. The feast had been going on for nearly an hour now and it showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Several lords and ladies were now dancing across the great halls, the song "The Bear and The Maiden Fair" echoing through out the hall.

Elia gently took a sip of the dark ale in her mug and had to try and hide a grimace at the bitter taste, there had been some wine at the feast but all of it had been very bitter so she decided to try the ale and found that it was even worse but she didn't want to send the ale away like she had done with the wine. Dornish wine was different, sweet but with a fire that burned but was somehow not unpleasant, perhaps when she visited Dorne she would bring a few bottles back with her.

She was sitting in between her Lord Husband and Ashara, who was drinking the same ale as her in a show of solidarity and she was handling it far better than Elia was managing to.

Eddard was on his second mug of the foul stuff and he was drinking it as easily as water, he turned his head and having felt his lady wife's eyes on him and put down the mug. "Are you enjoying yourself my lady?" He asked with a smile.

"Yes my lord, but I would if I could trouble you for a dance? I am fairly certain it is common for the bride and the groom to dance at their own wedding." Elia said lightly and with a teasing grin, Eddard blushed slightly and looked down at his feet for a moment.

"I am afraid I am not very good at dancing my lady." He admitted and further down the table Brandon, who was sitting in between his father and his betrothed laughed.

"Oh, go on Ned. It isn't very kind to deny your wife a dance and the rest of us could do with a laugh." Ned frowned at his brother's teasing before he gently took Elia's hand and lead her out to the dance floor.

"I apologise in advance if I happen to stand on your toes my lady." He whispered in her ear as he warped his arms around her and he began to gently lead her.

The musicians noticed that one of their lords and his wife had taken to the floor and changed the song, it was a slow one that spoke of a long and healthy life filled with as many children as they could ever want and love to last them for the rest of their days, Elia did not recognise it but she found that she liked it a great deal.

The new couple danced around and through other couples on the dance floor, despite his warning Ned did not once step on Elia's toes. She wondered if he realised how truly graceful he was on his feet. It did surprise her that such a man could be so graceful, Oberyn was graceful as were most other Dornish men but they were leanly muscled while her husband was muscled firmly.

As they danced she could not help but rest her hands on his chest and feel said muscle that rested underneath, her husband looked down at her and something dark flashed in his eyes. Elia shivered, but not from fear or cold. "I do hope that you do not think I am being too forward Eddard."

"Please my lady, call me Ned." Ned whispered gruffly and Elia couldn't help but shiver again, who knew that a cold barbarian from a frozen waste could make her feel so...warm.

"Only if you call me Elia, Ned." Elia whispered as she tilted her head to look up at him. "You are my husband, you have more than the right to call me by my first name."

Ned hummed and carried on leading her through the dance, Robert lead an annoyed looking Lyanna on to the floor but as usual he did not seem to notice, or if he did then he didn't care, that his future betrothed barely looked like she could stand him. Brandon was also leading Catelyn Stark on to the floor as well and he at least did not look like he was being marched to the head man's block unlike his sister.

Ashara it seemed had not wanted to be left out so she had taken Benjen's hand and lead him out as well, the two of them laughing at something that Elia wasn't sure about. Lauryn was sitting in the lap of Lord Rickard, that surprised Elia as Ashara wasn't normally comfortable leaving her daughter alone with strangers but Lord Rickard gave off a sense of trustworthiness that made it clear that the child was in no danger from him.

Plus, the old lord's face had a small smile on his face as he looked down at the small girl who was sitting on his lap and babbling happily and Elia wondered how long it had been since he had a small child to adore without having to worry about making matches and forging alliances with other houses by using them as bargaining chips. All too soon Elia felt a rush of pity for the man, Brandon and Lyanna, while she had no right to judge, were clearly not the easiest children to raise and she realised that he was probably thinking of better times.

Elia quickly took in a deep breath, it wouldn't do to appear sad at her own wedding so she turned her attention back to her husband and all the people around them.

"I am afraid that I know very little about northern houses Ned, I may need you to help educate me in this regard." Elia said as they spun around, her dark eyes scanning the other thirty or so people who were also on their feet.

"Of course Elia, but not tonight if you do not mind. I have other things on mind than reciting off names and histories." He said with a smirk and Elia could not help but chuckle softly.

"Of course, and you are lucky my lord that you are not alone in that." Elia said as they stepped away from one another and then brought themselves back togother. She could feel other lords and ladies eyes on them, most of them noticing that their Lord's son seemed to be quite taken with his new wife and that his new wife seemed to feel the same.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye that a tall slim man with a grim face was watching her intensely and he was speaking softly to the man sitting next to him, a very fat young man with curly blond hair and cold blue eyes who was staring at Elia with a look that could only be described as utter contempt. "Those two are watching us, more specifically me and not in the way most men watch me." Elia whispered to Ned.

"Who is?" He asked with a concerned look on his face.

"The two men to the left of us, do not look up as they will notice simply glance and look back." Ned did as he was instructed, glancing over before looking back at his wife with a dark expression on his face.

"Roose Bolton, the Lord of House Bolton and the Dreadfort and his bannermen Ludd Whitehill, the recent new Lord of House Whitehill." Ned sighed and shook his head. "I would not have them here, they are not the most pleasant of company at the best of times but it would do no good to exclude them, considering they are both fairly angry with my father as it is."

"And why is that?" Elia asked even through she was fairly certain that she already knew the answer, given how they were glaring at her.

"They were not happy with him for having his children marry outside of the north, Brandon is marry Cataltyn and Lyanna to marry Brandon and I am married to you, a princess of Dorne, that is as far south as you can get." Ned said with a shake of his head. "They are both unhappy with that, Lord Whitehill especially as he has two younger sisters that he would've liked to see me and Brandon married two."

Elia bit her lip, she had only been in the north for less than a day and she had already made two powerful enemies by simply arriving and saying her vows.

Suddenly all the music stopped, Brandon had made his way back to the Dais with Catelyn hanging off his arms, a red flush painting her face making her look even more lovely, and he was holding his goblet. "I think it's time for the bedding!" He shouted and soon the hall was filled with shouting and cheering.

"Bedding! Bedding! Bedding!" The cheers grew louder and louder and Ned looked as if he was about to say something, perhaps to indicate that he didn't want there to be a wedding but he stopped when he felt Elia's hand on his arm and he looked back to see her shake her head. This was something that every bride and groom had to go through, from Dorne to the North and she would be no different.

Lord Rickard looked a tad upset that his son and heir had stopped the feast instead of him but he simply sighed and nodded. "Let us bed them!"

Suddenly a whole host of northern men, and Robert Baratheon and men from the Dornish host rushed over to her, picked her up and began to carry her out of the room. Behind her she could hear ladies shriek and giggle, she identifiyed at least two of the voices belonging to Ashara and Lady Lysa, as they attacked her husband and began to push him out of the room.

While it was certainly not something she would choose as a first choice she had to admit that it wasn't quite as bad as she thought it was going to be, the men may had ripped her dress but with her they were gentle. The jokes were often filthy and crude but it was clear by there tones that they were simply jokes and when one of the men perhaps got a bit comfortable or began to take liberties her countrymen, and to her surprise Robert Baratheon, stopped it from going further.

Eventually they arrived at her husband's bedchambers, two of the men opened the door as the others gently let her down and Robert gently pushed her through the door before closing it behind her.

If there was one thing that she was upset about it was that her wedding dress was in tatters, the bottom part of the gown was completely ripped away leaving nothing but her bare legs. The corset had survived better but that wasn't saying much as it was still tattered and ripped and her breasts were on full display.

The chamber door opened and Ned was shoved in, he was in a better state than his wife as his breeches were in tact but his doublet and his undershirt were gone leaving only his bare chest. As the door slammed shut behind him his eyes widen as he stared at the sight that was Elia. "My lady." He breathed.

Elia shushed him and stepped closer, resting her hands on his bare chest. "I told you to call me Elia, Ned." She whispered huskily before she pressed her lips to his.

For a moment they just stood there, kissing and enjoying one another. They did not love one another yet, but they were both married to someone they found very attractive and that made the burden of their duty far lighter.

"Are you two going to get on with it!?" Brandon shouted from outside of the door. "You can't make me an uncle or father a grandfather by just talking!"

"If you want Ned I can come in and take over! I'm sure none would be able tell the difference!" Robert shouted with a laugh.

Ned growled and gently lead Elia over to the bed, he pushed her down on to it gently and climbed on top of her. He pressed their lips together for a moment before he began to kiss down her neck, her chest and her stomach before finally arriving in between his lady wife's thighs. He pressed a gentle kiss to one of them before he turned his attention to her wet entrance, he wasn't sure why but somehow the way her pink cunt looked against her brown skin seemed to him one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He leaned in and began to gently lap at the outside of it.

Elia whined and clutched the feather pillow beneath her tightly, she was from Dorne and this was not the first time that someone had granted her a lord's kiss but the sensation was always so intense that she had never really gotten used to it. "Ned." She whined.

Ned did not let up, continuing to lap on the outside of her lips for a while before he began to push his tongue into her, looking into her eyes and enjoying ever moan and gasp and half prayer and whimper that he brought out of her.

Ned licked and sucked and nipped and soon Elia shook and screamed and Ned's face was drenched. As Elia panted to try and get her breath back Ned pulled away and undid his breaches before pulling them down. He then sat down on the bed and waited for Elia to calm down.

Elia breathed in deep before sitting up and reaching for Ned's cock which she began to stroke, Ned closed his eyes and swallowed. "My lady, you do not have to-"

"But I wish too." Was all Elia said before she took him into her mouth, this was something she had experience with and many a man, and woman, had been driven out of their minds for a time after she was done with them.

But be that as it may she didn't want to ruin her husband all at once, so she would need to hold back a little bit. She licked and sucked all around his shaft and head, humming to cause pleasant vibrations and she wasn't surprised to feel him spilling down her throat soon after. She pulled away and smiled up at him and the smile was returned, through it was tired and broken by panting every second.

It was time.

Ned placed himself in between Elia's thighs and slowly slid into her, he waited for her to tell him that she was ready before he began to thrust back and forth. The tight, wet heat that surrounded him was quite possibly the finest thing that the gods had ever created.

Elia whimpered and tightened around Ned, he was far bigger than any man she had taken before and while there was pain a part of her loved it.

They were both still sensitive and it only took a few thrusts before they reached completion, they both laid on the bed and panted. Both exhausted, an exhaustion they could feel in there bones but was in an odd way satisfying. Outside they could here men cheering.

And as Elia laid there with her arms around her new husband and they slowly began to drift off to sleep, she thought that perhaps she would grow to like it here indeed.

End of Chapter Seven

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 **I wasn't sure wither to go with a bedding (Like in the books) or having Ned object to it and there not being one (Like in the show) I choose a middle ground I think.**

 **Review if you enjoyed!**


	8. Chapter 8

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Eight.

Elia blinked her eyes open when she felt the warm sun landing on her skin, she was surprised by how warm it actually felt in the room given how she know how could it was outside of the castle, but the large fur covers provided more than enough protection against the cold, the morning sun was warm enough if not quite as warm as she was used to and the man who shared her bed gave off more than enough heat on his own.

Ned's stern face had relaxed in sleep and Elia took another moment to realise how truly handsome he actually was, she wondered if all those who said he was plain or that his brother was more handsome by far would feel the same if they could see him like this or when he was locked in passion.

He was breathing steadily at first but he seemed to have sensed the movement in the bed, all that warrior's training no doubt, as he opened his eyes slowly and sat up in bed and smiled at her bashfully. "Good morning my lady, did you sleep well?" His voice was rough with sleep and it somehow just made him even more attractive to her.

"I think that I can safely say that it has been a very long time since I have had such a satisfying rest." Elia said with a grin that only grew wider as her husband blushed a deep red. Who knew that the fierce, cold barbarian could not only blush but would look adorable doing so?

"I...I hope that I did not hurt you My lady." Ned said quietly, he had enjoyed last night a great deal but looking back on it he realised that he may have been a little too rough, his beautiful wife was a fragile looking thing, like a statue made of marble that would break into a thousand pieces if it fell on to the floor.

"You did not Ned, and I told you can call me Elia. I am far stronger than I look I can assure you." Elia leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, smiling inwardly as she felt him kiss her back.

They stayed their for a while, simply enjoying one another before there was a quick knock at the door. "Elia? Lord Eddard? Might I come in?" Ashara asked from the other side of the door.

Ned and Elia pulled apart and Elia couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. "Yes Ashara, come in." She called as Ned used some of the blanket to cover himself with as Ashara walked in, a folded up dress in her hands.

"Lord Rickard has asked that you both come down to breakfast, I said that I would fetch you both." Ashara said, keeping her eyes firmly on Elia.

"Yes of course, ah, pardon me Lady Ashara." Ned said bashfully as he stood out of bed and quickly grabbed some clothes from a chest and threw them on, Ashara risked a glance and saw his muscled back before she turned her head back to her friend and smiled in approval.

Once Ned was fully dressed he turned to his face his wife and her lady-in-waiting. "I shall see you both at breakfast, Lady Ashara, My La-Elia." He caught himself and smiled when he saw Elia smiled and then left the room, closing the door after he left.

"Well, certainly not bad to look at." Ashara said with a grin before she turned to look at her best friend. "So, how was it? How was he? Is he wielding a dagger or a greatsword?"

"Ashara!" Elia shouted, trying to sound offend but she couldn't keep the smile off her face or stop herself from laughing. "You are utterly terrible, even by my standards!"

"You still haven't answered my question and I am not dressing you until you do." Ashara said with a smirk as she held the folded up dress close to her chest, as if she was holding it hostage.

Elia sighed and shook her head. "He was fine, I enjoyed it a very great deal and...everything is well in proportion to everything else! May I please get dressed now?"

"Of course." Ashara said as Elia got out of bed, she unfolded the dress out on to the bed. It was a more subtle affair compared to her wedding dress, it was a pale yellow with billowing sleeves and green embroidery around the sleeves and the bottom of it's skirt.

As Ashara helped her to put it on she spoke. "So, what are the sleeping arrangements going to be? Will you be sleeping with your Lord Husband every night because I must say that I did not hate how roomy our chamber was when it was just me and Lauryn in there."

Elia shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I think that, most likely, I will be sleeping in my husband's chambers most nights. So, yes you basically have that chamber all to yourself."

Ashara could not hide her grin nor did she try to. "This breakfast should be interesting, I know that Lord Robert and Lady Catelyn, as well as Lady Lysa, have been invited to attend it and considering Lord Robert's reputation and knowing Lord Brandon I think you should be prepared for a few tasteless jokes."

"I am more than prepared." Elia said as Ashara finished dressing her. Elia sat on the bed and Ashara climbed on behind her and began to style her hair.

As Ashara ran her fingers through Elia's hair something came to Elia, she knew that it wasn't any of her business but she had to know. "Ashara, how do you know Lord Brandon exactly?"

Ashara's fingers stilled for a moment before they resume moving through her hair. "I've seen him at various tourneys and feasts and we have spoken once or twice, why Elia?" She asked as she picked up a dozen or so strands of hair and began to twist them together.

Elia closed her eyes and sighed, she had to ask. "Is there something I should know about you and Lord Brandon...and Lauryn?"

For a moment Ashara was silent and Elia was worried that she had offended her but then she felt something wet dripping down on to the top of her head. She turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw that Ashara had tears running down her face and her shoulders were shaking widely.

Elia turned around and gently pulled her friend into a hug, as soon as Ashara was in her arms she broke down sobbing. She rubbed her back and gently hushed her to try and calm her down. She knew the truth now and her heart broke for her friend, how it must hurt to watch the man you loved marrying some one else.

Even now it still hurt to think of Rhaegar marring someone else and Ashara had it even worse, being forced to watch as the man she loved had to spend time with his soon to be wife.

All thoughts of the breakfast left her head, for now all that mattered was that her friend was upset.

* * *

Lyanna was incredibly bored and hungry as well, her father made it clear that could not eat until her brother's new wife and her friend arrived at the table. She wouldn't mind too much if the food wasn't already on the table! Just a few inches away from her...

Bacon burnt black. Freshly baked bread straight from the oven that it was still hot to the touch. Fresh beans and baked fish that had been caught just this morning and tender sausages and eggs that had the yokes still runny and dark ale and oatcakes and suddenly her dislike of her goodsister grew even more.

The others at the table didn't seem to care or even notice that she was hungry and fidgeting, even Benjen who was younger than her was sitting still but that was probably because he was in direct view of their father while she was sitting next to Robert which was not helping her mood at all.

Ned had just turned up and he seemed happy enough, from the moment he sat down Brandon and Robert began to grill them for details about the night before and Lady Catelyn and Lady Lysa both blushed at every dirty word like the perfect little southern ladies that they were, it was pathetic.

Ned thankfully spared her from having to hear anything by simply ignoring his brother and best friend's questions and he simply asked Lady Catelyn and Lady Lysa if they were enjoying Winterfell.

At that moment Elia and Ashara walked in and Lyanna realised that she had probably kept them waiting on purpose, she was a princess after all and technically out ranked them all, what better way to make sure they remembered that by keeping them waiting?

"Pardon us for being late, we couldn't get this dress tied up no matter how much we tried." Elia said as she sat down at the table next to Ned and Ashara sat down next to her.

Lyanna was the first to put food on her plate as soon as they sat down, she was certain that she could feel her father's eyes staring into her with disapproval but at the moment she was too hungry to care, everyone else began to pile up their plates and soon they were tucking in.

"Tell me, Princess. Have you written to your brother to tell him that you are have arrived?" Rickard asked as he looked at his new gooddaughter.

"I did goodfather, I wrote a letter to my eldest brother and sent it via a rider, he was specifically attached to my host to send back word that I've arrived but I imagine that it will be a while until the letter arrives." Elia said as she quickly and cleanly cut through a sausage with her knife.

Rickard nodded before turning to his eldest son. "Earlier this morning I received a letter from Hoster Tully, Lady Lysa, you are to return to Riverrun however Lady Catelyn, you're father wishes for you to stay here for a few moons."

"Why?" Brandon asked. "Not that I am complaining of course my lady." He said quickly to Catelyn before she reached the obvious conclusion.

"Because he believes, and I am inclined to agree with him, that it would be better for the two of you to get to know one another before you actually marry one another." Rickard said firmly. "Now, if you will all excuse me." He said before he stood up from the table and left the hall, his breakfast left half finished on his plate.

Lyanna stood up from her plate and grabbed her last rasher of bacon. "I am going to go riding." She said as she popped the bacon into her mouth and began to walk away from the table.

"Perhaps I could join you Lya!" Robert said happily as he stood up from the table and Lyanna had to resist sighing in annoyance, she knew that it wasn't really fair but she had heard all of the stories about Robert Baratheon and all of his bastards and she was not interested in marrying anyone anyway, least of all him.

"Forgive me Lord Robert, but I prefer to ride on my own, please excuse me." Lyanna quickly left the room before Robert could say anything.

Robert looked more surprised by how quickly Lyanna left then by anything else, Ned once again couldn't help but feel sorry for his friend but even so he couldn't blame his sister too harshly, she was just afraid that Robert would continue his whoreing ways even though Ned knew that he wouldn't once he married Lyanna.

"Ned! Why don't we go and spar for a bit!?" Robert shouted and clapped his friend on the back harshly, so hard in fact that the bit of bacon that was in his mouth went flying across the hall, causing Brandon and Benjen to laugh.

Ned wiped at his mouth and then nodded before standing up, he could do with a good fight. He was good at fighting, better than politics and ruling, fighting was simpler and easier everything was obvious, you know what you had to do to keep on top of it and you didn't have to worry about watching what you say or worry about offending some random lord.

"Would you and Lady Dayne like to come and watch Elia?" Ned asked, knowing it was the polite thing to do and that Dornish women often had more interest in combat than even northern woman.

"I would Ned, but I think I shall refuse this time. I started some needle work in the wheelhouse that I would quite like to get finished." Elia explained and Ned nodded.

"I think I'll come with you." Brandon said as he stood up, he turned his head to look at Catelyn. "Another time my lady." He said with his charming smile before he followed his younger brother and his friend out of the room.

Benjen stood up from his chair. "Can I come with you!?" He shouted excitedly.

"No Benjen, you have your lessons with the Maester and you don't want father yelling at you because you missed them, do you?" Brandon called over his shoulder and Benjen sighed before leaving the room to go to his lessons.

"Cat, would you mind helping me with packing? Cleary I'm not going to get to stay as long as I would've liked." Lysa said with a sigh as she stood up, Catelyn nodded and the two sisters left the room.

In a matter of moments the two Dornish women were alone, Ashara raised an eyebrow. "I get the feeling my dear friend, that living here is going to make us appreciate our families back home a lot more."

Elia sighed heavily and shook her head as she realised how right her friend probably was.

End of Chapter Eight

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	9. Chapter 9

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Nine

Casterly Rock was resplendent in the warm sunlight, every single feature was in plain view and the only word that could be used to describe was it grand. It had existed for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years and the family that lived there now would make sure that it continued to endure.

It was carved out of the same stone of the mountain that it was set in and all over the mountain there were mine shafts that burrowed deep under the skin of the mountain, like worms under rotting flesh scurrying look for more food. There was always noise coming from the shafts, even at the very darkest of night there was always noise. It might drive a lesser man insane.

Tyrion Lannister was many things, but weak he was not. No matter what his father and dear older sister thought of him. His room was in a large tower which overlooked the largest, and most busy, of the mine shafts meaning that all hours of the day he heard the sound of heavy mine machinery and men breaking their backs to get gold out of the mine.

He did have to laugh at his father's sense of humour, he was a twisted little monster as his father so often like to remind him and he had him looked into a tower. He imagined that if he was someone else then he would find it absolutely hilarious.

He wondered what others thought of him, he had very rarely been able to leave Casterly Rock, the farthest he had ever been was the outskirt's of Lannisport and that was only when he was with his brother or one of his uncles, he knew of the stories that were passed around since he had been born and his mother had died giving birth to him.

He had heard it said that according to one story he had a head that was as large as a pumpkin, that his teeth were as long as dagger blades and he couldn't close his mouth because of them, he also heard that he had two black eyes and lions claws and a tail and even one time he was told that a story said he had a pair of scaly black wings.

Almost like a dragon, he wished that he had wings then he could fly as far away as he wanted and there would be no one to tell him what to do and what not to do. Noone would miss him anyway, except maybe for Jamie.

He sighed and looked down at the book he was reading, it told of the rise to power of House Tyrell, it was quite impressive to say the lest. They acted as the trusted and loyal servents and as soon as they had the opportunity they sized it and now they were the ones in control of the Reach, it was like the opposite version of his father's conflict with the Raines except the Tyrell's were smart enough not to take the fight to them.

He shut the book, he wasn't interested really but there was little else he could do but read so most of his time was spent reading so he had to at least pretend to be interested to stop himself from going mad and this was one of the few books he hadn't read yet. Maybe he should go and get one of his favourite's from the library, perhaps the one about Aegon's conquest? That one at least mentioned the dragons more than the book in front of him did.

Just as he was about to get up and leave the room the door opened and Jamie walked in, Jamie was everything that their father had wanted in a son, tall and golden and muscular and charming and so beautiful it hurt to look at him sometimes.

Jamie had always been his champion ever since Tyrion was born, he protected him and loved him when no one else would and had always made time for him, despite the fact it is was the one thing their sister hated about him. He had always loved him for that but at the same time it was impossible for Tyrion not to hate him as well, he was Perfect Jamie and he was Tyrion, the imp.

"Hello little brother." Jamie said with a warm smile as he walked over to where Tyrion was sitting and ruffled his hair and Tyrion ducked his head and smiled. It was such a simple gesture but it meant a great deal to him, very few people even wanted to be near him let alone touch and the few times he was touched it was from boys who were similar in age to him who wanted to punish himfor being different.

"Hello Jamie, how goes your training?" Tyrion asked with a sheepish smile, he would've gone to watch it but his father had forbidden him for some reason. "Have you read the book I told you about?"

"Not yet, I will get to it through I promise." Jamie promised and Tyrion knew he would, Jamie had never lied to him and he would never break a promise. "Anyway, father wants us both to come down to breakfast."

"Father actually wants me? Are you certain it's him? Perhaps a grumpkin snuck past the guards and replaced him in the night as we slept." Tyrion snarked and he don't think he ever felt more proud of himself then when Jamie laughed.

"I am certain that it's him, now, come on. Father will throw us both down a mine shaft if we keep him waiting." Jamie said as he stood up and walked out of the room, Tyrion following after him. "You want to race? I bet you'll beat me."

 _"You mean that you'll let me run ahead and use the shortcuts so you can let me win so I don't feel as bad, I love you brother but you are a terrible liar."_ Tyrion thought to himself but he didn't say anything, he didn't say anything however because he knew that his brother meant well and was only trying to help.

"No, I think I would just rather walk down if it's all the same to you brother." Tyrion said and Jamie nodded and then the two brothers began to walk down the steps of the tower, neither of them said anything but they didn't need too. It was a comfortable silence.

Eventually they made it to the small chamber where the Lannister family often broke their fast, it was a small room but it was cozy and there was a large table in the middle of it that took up half of the room. His father was sitting at the head of it, his eyes scanning a letter in his hands quite intently. He looked up when he saw them walk in but his eyes only watched them both for a moment before he went back to reading the letter.

Cersei was sitting at their father's left, looking beautiful as always with her long golden hair and bright green eyes and dressed in a beautiful red dress her eyes light up when she saw Jamie and then darkened when they landed on Tyrion, an expression of disgust darkened her lovely face, like she had seen a revolting beetle or a large slug crawl into the room. She turned her head away very quickly.

Jamie and Tyrion quickly sat down, as soon as they did their father spoke up. "It seems that the Princess Elia has gone north to marry Lord Stark's second son Eddard."

A large smile threatened to split Cersei's face. "Father, truly?" She breathed and despite how impossible it seemed her smile seemed to grow wider at her father's nod. "Good, that foreign whore was no match for Rhaegar and slowly freezing to death with a barbarian for a husband is no less than she deserves."

Tywin glanced at his daughter but said nothing about her language of the Dornish princess. "In a few moons you will go to court Cersei, you will need to adjust to the court as it will be your home for a very long time, perhaps the rest of your life."

"Of course father." Cersei said sweetly, always willing to act the dutiful daughter if it suited her.

"Jamie, you shall go with her and try and find a woman that you think shall be a suitable match. If I find that she is suitable enough for you than I shall contact their family and arrange a match." Tywin ordered.

"Yes father." Jamie said with a sigh, he knew that it was pointless for him to even try and argue with his father and every time he had tried it always ended painfully.

"Good." Tywin said with a nod, clearly pleased at his son and daughter's obedience before he continued. "I shall-

"Father." Tyrion interrupted and for the first time in his life Jamie felt truly scared for his brother's safety, no one in their right mind would dare interrupt Tywin Lannister when he was speaking if they planned on keeping their head but his brother showed no fear. "Might I ask something?"

Tywin's face was unreadable, it was impossible to tell if he was annoyed or furious at the interruption or if even felt anything about at all. He simply stared at his youngest son for a moment before he nodded. "You may." He said clearly.

"May I go to King's Landing father, I've always wanted to see the capital." Tyrion asked hopefully.

Cersei looked alarmed and glanced at her father with a horrified look in her eyes but she needn't have worried as her Father agreed with her. "No, you may not. I will not have you embarrassing either your brother or your sister or the rest of our family. Your existence is enough of a stain on our name as it is and I will not have you making it worse. Do you understand?"

Tyrion closed his eyes and tightened his fists, he willed himself not to cry. He would not give either his father or his sister any satisfaction and simply breathed through his teeth. "Of course father. I understand completely. But what am I to do while Jamie and my sweet sister are gone?"

"I shall find something suitable for you to entertain yourself with, do not worry for that." Tywin said as he glanced away from his youngest child and picked up another letter. "Have you anymore questions?"

"No father, might I be excused?" Tyrion said quietly, at his father's nod he jumped out of his chair and hurried towards the door trying to ignore the feeling of his sister's smug stare burning into his back. How he hated her!

As he left the room he could his father telling Jamie to stay in his seat, that there was still business that they had to discuss and once again Tyrion's heart swelled with love for his brother. Always his champion no matter what, truly the only one deserving of anything good in this wretched house.

He ran all the way back to his room and slammed the door shut, locking it behind him, he went over to his bed and laid down on it as he thought once again how wonderful it would be to have wings. To soar higher and higher and have no one to stop him.

Soon he would be a man grown and he would leave, his father wouldn't be able to keep him here forever and one day he would return with a beautiful wife who loved him for him and lovely children and his father and sister would realise that they had been wrong about him.

Yes. One day.

End of Chapter Nine

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 **So the next two chapters will be other houses reacting to news that Elia had married Ned, specifically House Martell and Targaryen.**

 **Please review, follow and favourite if you liked. Constructive criticism is welcome.**


	10. Chapter 10

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Ten

Doran Martell sighed happily as he watched his two children gasp and squeal delightedly as they ran through the Water Gardens, they had both been with their mother in Sunspear for the past month and he had missed them both greatly, they and their mother had come to see Elia and Ashara off. Trystane hadn't even been walking by the last time he had seen him and now the boy was running around like it was second nature.

Arianne had grown as well, already looking like a proper little lady which was her mother's influence more than anything. Mellario had since returned to Sunspear, they had been having...difficulties lately but it wouldn't do for the people of Dorne to know that their prince and princess could barely stand one another, so they had both arranged for them to spend as little time as possible together, when one of them was in Sunspear, the other would be in the Water Gardens.

His wife had never liked Dorne, compered to Norvos it seemed to be an entirely different world. His ears still rung from the argument he had with her when he told her that he was going to have Arianne trained to defend herself. He had allowed her to have her way that one time but he would only bend so far with her, Arianne would rule after him and she had to be ready.

He sometimes wondered how it had reached this point, he had love Mellario a great deal once. He still loved her very much but somehow along the way the love had faded, he was sick and tired and tired in a way that had nothing to do with his sickness.

He still remembered the day he had met Mellario, he had never been much of a traveller as being heir had meant that he had always been more focused on his responsibilities to his country and to his family above all else but his mother insisted that he tried to have some enjoyment while he was still young so he had decided to tour the free cities.

When he had come to Norvos Mellario's father had wanted to brag that he had a foreign prince for dinner and so he had invited him to stay while he was in Norvos, he had met Mellario at dinner that night and she had stolen his breath away at first sight, he didn't think he had ever seen a more beautiful woman in his entire life and her beauty wasn't only on the surface, she was kind and generous and as smart as some of the wisest maesters.

He hadn't wanted to leave her so he had sent his mother a letter that said that he would be extending his travels by another month, his mother hadn't had a problem with it as she wanted him to have a little fun before he was overwhelmed by his duties after all. But then he had sent another left saying he was extending travels and then another and another and then another.

He imagined that if he sent a few more like that then his mother would've assumed that he had been taken hostage and she would soon have half their standing forces after him and he truly did not want a war starting over him so he sent a final letter to his mother informing her that he was returning to Dorne.

And he would be bringing Mellario back as his wife.

His mother had been...disappointed in his choice, and that was something of an understatement. She had hopped to marry him to a Targaryen if he remembered correctly. She came around to the idea eventually and he liked to hope that eventually she had grown fond of her, though he realised that it was most likely wishful thinking on his part.

But they had been young, he had fallen in love with a beautiful woman and Mel had fallen for a handsome prince from a far off land, it wasn't enough to build a strong relationship on and now they could barely stand to be in the same room as one another when there children weren't with them. The hardest thing was that he didn't hate her, it would be so much easier if he did but he didn't, he loved her. But love wasn't always enough.

He wondered what his mother would think now, mostly likely she would tut and call him a foolish boy and set to fixing all of his mistakes while assuring him that everything would be alright. He missed her a great deal, she had only been gone for two years and he was still new to this and he knew that some of the lords didn't trust his judgement.

Their beloved and wise princess had been replaced by a young and sick boy who didn't know what he was doing, who wasn't ready.

If his mother was still here then she would never have stood for Elia being set aside by Areys, she had fought so hard for the match after all. She would've made him regret it but not with swords and flame but with words that would bring House Targaryen crashing down around the Mad King.

Well, he may not be as smart as his mother but by sending Elia north they had a new ally in House Stark, Rickard Stark was ambitious but not particularly subtle. It didn't take much time for him to figure out what he was doing by betrothing his oldest son and his only daughter to houses not of the north, by sending Elia to marry his second son it was a way of declaring that he would support Rickard.

And House Targaryen would be reduced to rubble.

If the Mad King found out then they would be all burned to ashes but it was worth the risk, the man was growing worse and it wouldn't be long until he tried to burn them all anyway. Still, he had cautioned Lord Rickard and asked him to be patient, they had to wait for the exact right moment before they strike...

He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock at his door, he nodded his head to Areo who opened the door, he still was so surprised that the large man was so loyal to him considering that he had come from Norvos with his wife and had been in her service to her family, standing outside the door was a young servant boy holding a letter. "A letter for you has just arrived my Prince."

Doran stood and tried to ignore the pain in them but it was hard, what had started as a dull ache was now a stabbing pain that threatened to knock him to the floor, he walked over to the boy and took the letter. "Thank you, you may go now." The boy nodded respectfully and ran off.

Doran sat back down and scanned the letter, it was from Elia. He looked up at Areo. "Areo, would please go and fetch my brother? Tell him that he must come now."

Areo nodded and obidently followed out his Prince's orders, leaving the room as Doran continued to read the letter.

Before long Areo returned with Oberyen, clearly annoyed at being summoned when he had hoped to be spending time with his children. "What's wrong Doran?"

Doran handed over the letter to his brother. "Read it, it's from Elia." As soon as he said that all the annoyance had fled from Oberyen's face and he began to read the letter.

"She writes that she is well and the wedding has already taken place, she already seems quite fond of her new husband." Doran said with a smile. "I do believe they shall be fine."

"Elia would try not to worry us, you know how she is." Oberyen said, looking the letter over to see if he could find any hidden pleas for help. "How do we know she is fine?"

"We don't but I trust Elia and if she says that she is fine then she is fine." Doran said as he watched his brother with amusement, clearly his overprotectiveness was still a present feature. "Elia will be fine, I promise you."

"I hope you are right." Oberyen said as he handed the letter back. "Because if you are wrong, if we get a letter that says that Elia is in danger or unhappy then I will ride north with loyal men and get her back." He then stood up and left the room and Doran knew it was probably better to let him go, he loved Elia almost more then anything so of course he would most likely try and do that but if he tried Doran would of course stop him.

Elia would be fine, of that he had no doubt. But he couldn't have Oberyen risking this alliance.

As much as it was a hard truth to realise, some things were just more important then family.

End of Chapter Ten


	11. Chapter 11

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Eleven

Rheagar sighed heavily as he rubbed at his eyes to try and banish the sleep from them, he had not been sleeping well lately due to his father's continuing instability, the man seemed to grow more and more paranoid with each passing day and he constantly felt as if he was being watched, which he most likely was.

He glanced down at the letter on his desk, it had come from Casterly Rock with another letter. The first letter was for his father, informing him that Cersei Lannister was on her way to the capital with her brother joining her. They would be married in a matter of weeks and Rhaegar was not looking forward to it.

Cersei Lannister was no doubt a beautiful woman, a blind man with half his wits would be able to tell that but the woman...did not seem particularly intelligent. She was by no means stupid and he was judging her by only a few scant interactions but considering how smart Tywin Lannister was and how smart Johanna Lannister had been he had been expecting more from their progeny.

Again, it was an unfair judgement considering he barely know the woman but he needed a wife who was his equal in intelligence, he was playing a dangerous game and he needed a partner in that. Someone who he could ask for their opinion and he knew he would be receiving sound advice from them.

In reality he knew that he needed Elia.

Elia had been his friend long before she was ever going to be his wife and he had always trusted her opinion and when his father had informed him that he would be marrying the Dornish princess he had been silently praising his good fortunes, having Elia as his wife practically assured House Martell and all of Dorne's loyalty and he would Elia's intelligence on hand.

And then in the span of a breath his father seemed to decided that Dorne was no longer trustworthy and that Elia was no longer good enough for his first-born and the contract was broken.

Now Elia was married to Eddard Stark and she was further away than ever.

Rhaegar hadn't been in love with Elia. He had valued her as a friend and a confidant and respected her intelligence but he had not loved her. Would that be the difference with Cersei Lannister? Would he love her but be starved of intelligence and friendship?

Was love worth the lack of all else?

He still wasn't sure why his father had chosen to wed him to Cersei, he had been ranting and raving for months about how much he hated Tywin, how the upstart would dare to think that he would marry his son to a servent's daughter and how he had stolen Johanna from him and Rhaegar didn't want to think about what that meant.

And then one day he had summoned Tywin to court and arranged to have Cersei married to him, it was the sanest Rhaegar had seen his father in a very, very long time. He had hoped that it was the start of his father recovering but even then he knew that had been a naïve hope. His paranoia was as strong as ever and he had most likely agreed to the match so that he would Tywin's only daughter as a hostage to ward Tywin off from trying anything.

Rheagar sighed and shook his head to try and clear his mind of these thoughts, he had more important things to worry about at the moment. The second letter was for him and had been delivered straight into his hand when his father hadn't been looking by Lord Tywin's rider.

If he was reading it correctly, all the letters had been written in code, then it was Lord Tywin assuring him of his loyalty and that he would stand by him and that he saw his marriage to his only daughter as cementing their alliance.

Rhaegar was grateful for the reassurance and decided that when he saw Tywin Lannister again he would need to thank him in person, his loyalty was too valuable to risk. Tywin was his closest ally and if pushed then his armies could be here within a week and he needed them for when he would take the throne from his father.

At that moment the door to his study opened and Jon Connington stepped in, the man was tall and wide and his red hair was matched by his red face. He knew that many people mocked Jon for his appearance even despite the fact he was hand of the king, the man still seemed uncomfortable in his new role but Rhaegar knew that he would suffer it for him.

"My prince." Jon said respectfully, nodding his head. "I hate to intrude but your father has sent me with a message for you. He intends to dine with you and your mother and brother tonight, he would like you to inform them of this arrangement." His tone informed him of everything Jon's words did not.

 _I'm sorry Rhaegar, you know how is._

Rhaegar nodded and sighed at these silent words before he stood. "Thank you Jon, I will see to it now." He left the room quickly, his hope for a quite supper with his mother and little brother ruined, he had promised his mother that he would try and eat with her and Viserys tonight and he had been looking forward to it all day.

 _"More than that, are you running from something else?"_ A little voice inside his head whispered and Rhaegar frowned heavily, picking up his pace. He was well aware of Jon's feelings for him, he spent a lot of time with Jon and he was hardly the most subtle man and it didn't take him long to figure it out.

He supposed that some men would be disgusted, would probably have Jon banished from their sight if not have him executed. He supposed that others, who were kinder would have gently let the man down. Rhaegar, once he had figured it out had done neither, he told himself that if Jon had ever confessed to him then he would let him but, recently he wasn't sure.

He had always been able to appractice the female form and even lust after it, he had desired Elia and did not imagine that he would have any difficulty conceiving a child with Cersei but he had certainly not been blind to the fact that his friend was an extremely handsome man.

His strong arms, pale skin that burned even more easily than his own, his stern eyes that only seemed to soften for him. A strong, muscular back and thick legs and his thick red beard which always looked like it would scratch in his skin in such a delightful way. There had been many a night when he had dreamt of Jon and he wondered if maybe...

 _"Think of the prophecy. Ice and Fire, The dragon needs three heads, The Prince Who Was Promised. You can not afford to be selfish."_ Another voice in his head whispered and Rhaegar wondered if this was how it started for his father, listening to the voices inside his head.

So many people had said that Aerys hadn't been much different from Rhaegar when he had been younger and the thought that might one day turn into him had caused several nightmares before and would most likely cause them for several nights to come.

He shook his head wildly, he would most likely cause himself to reach his father's state if he though about it too much.

He found himself standing outside of his mother's room, he had apparently been so caught in his thoughts that he hadn't realised that he made the fairly lengthy walk from his study to her room, he could hear Viserys laughing loudly inside and he could almost hear his mother's sweet ladylike giggle if he strained his ears.

A part of Rhaegar hated himself for having to go in their and ruin it but he knew that he had, his father had burned men alive for less than disobeying him, even if it was just not joining him for dinner.

Rhaegar took in a deep breath and pushed the door of his mother's room open and walked in. Viserys, who had been laying on the floor playing with a toy dragon carved out of wood, gasped and jumped to his feet with a cry. "Rhaegar!"

The little boy rushed over to his older brother and threw his arms around his legs, he looked up at Rhaegar with wide adoring eyes. "Mother said that you would have dinner with us tonight but I didn't believe her! I thought you would be too busy."

"Well, now you always know to know that I will never lie to you my love." Rhaella said with a gentle smile and stood to great her elder son, walking over to him and cupped his cheek. "Hello my boy, are you well?"

Rhaegar sighed and shook his head. "Mother." He began and hesitated for a moment when he saw the worried expression cross his mother's face. "Father has commanded us to dine with him to night."

Rhaella didn't have much time to react as Viserys reacted first. "No! It was just supposed to the be the three of us eating in mother's room, I wanted to show you all my new toys! Father won't care! I won't go, you can't make me!" The little boy screamed, his face turning red and tears flowing down his cheeks.

Rhaella quickly scooped up her son and began to hush him. "Hush my love, it's all right. It's going to be okay, your father will be glad to see you."

Rhaegar didn't think he had ever seen his mother lie before and he knew how hard it was for her considering she had just promised his brother that she would never lie to him.

"I hate him, he scares me and I want him to go away. I want him to die." Viserys muttered, his voice muffled from having his head buried in his mother's neck.

"My love, you must not say that. Do you understand me you must not say that!" Rhaella stressed and Viserys simply sobbed, Rhaella sighed and looked up at Rhaegar. "Tell your father that we will be there shortly my dear." She said before she turned and carried Viserys over to her large chair and rubbed his back to try and comfort him.

Rhaegar nodded and left the room, he wanted to try and offer Viserys some comfort as well but he knew that his mother would be better at it and he would simply get in the way.

He sighed and slowly began to make his way to his father's dining room.

* * *

Rhaegar felt uncomfortable as he sat at the other end of the table, he was at the exact opposite of his father and he was staring at him unblinkingly. His father had taken to that habit lately, hoping that if the person he stared at what was plotting against him then it would break them and them to confess, even if they did nothing wrong.

His father looked terrible, he was rail thin from not eating enough due to fearing being poisoned and having a food tester eating his food but even when the tester survived he still did not eat in fear of the poison being slow acting. His hair was so long now that it went all the way down to the bottom of his back, he had a long beard and his nails had grown so long that they were actually starting to hook.

Viserys and his mother were sitting at either side of his father and while his mother was used to hiding how she felt around her father Viserys was not and he kept glancing between his mother and his brother for help, Rhaegar's heart swelled with pity because he understood, he understood how hard it was to be near their father. His descent into madness had begun when Rhaegar was around Viserys's age after all.

Thankfully the servants soon brought their food in and placed it on the table so they could just look at their plates.

They managed to make it through the first two course without any problem but during the main course, a roast pig stuffed with grapes and grains and served with potatoes, his father started to mutter darkly.

"Aerys, is everything alright?" Rhaella asked her husband gently, not wanting to provoke him.

"That foreign whore of Rhaegar's has married Rickard's spare!" Aerys spat darkly. "The serpent and the wolf plot and scheme, they think I don't know. But I do! I see them!"

"Princess Elia had to marry someone father, I'm sure there is no plot there." Rhaegar tried to sooth but it only seemed to enrage the king.

"Do you think I am a fool! I am the king, I see a plot where there is one! Foolish fucking boy! Out of my sight, now!" Aerys stood up and grabbed Rhaella's arm. "You! With me!"

"Father! Please I didn't-" He tried to say but his mother shot him a look and glanced at Viserys who was cowering and crying into his hands. Rheagar slacked and watched helplessly as his mother was dragged off.

Rheagar walked over to his brother and picked him up and whispered into his ear. "Don't worry little brother, it won't always be like this. I promise you."

His father had sealed his fate now, he would not allow this any longer.

Soon, he would sit the iron throne and his father would be rotting in the worst cell that Rhaegar could find.

End of Chapter Eleven

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 **Please follow, favourite and review. Next chapter we're going back to Winterfell.**


	12. Chapter 12

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twelve

Elia hummed as she put the finishing touches on her new needlework, Ashara was sitting in a chair near her with Lauryn sitting in her lap humming to her daughter gently.

She had found that she hadn't been short of things to do in this last month in Winterfell, while Catelyn may have been the one who would become the Lady of the castle Elia had taken it upon herself to familiarise herself with as much of the history of Winterfell as she could as well as the servants.

Thinking of that made her remember an even that occurred during her first week at Winterfell, she and Ashara had mainly been keeping to themselves, aside from her new family and Catelyn, for the most part but eventually they had decided to introduce themselves for lack of a better word.

They had started off in the kitchens and met the cook and scullery maids, the cook had been a large woman with curly ginger hair and missing her two front teeth named Agatha, her voice had been loud and she spoke bluntly and to her staff as if they were a bunch of particularly dim children but see seemed to be a fairly nice woman aside from that.

After saying goodbye to them they had gone to met the stable master, Hullen, a man with long brown hair and leathery looking skin and calloused hands. The man had spoken gruffly and seemed a bit offset by Elia and Ashara's appearance though wither that was due to the fact that he didn't think that the new ladies from the south would bother to visit him or because he was taken back by Elia's skin they couldn't be sure.

Elia had been glad to see her horse though, she had ridden in the wheelhouse after she promised Doran that she would but he had sent Swift Ash with them and she was glad of it, she loved her horse and while horse-riding was never high on her list of interests she still enjoyed it and she would rather do it on her horse than any other.

Swift Ash was called that because he had an ashy grey coat and he was a swift runner, Elia never claimed to be a very creative person but the name worked for him. She actually got quite a bit of amusement out of the look on Ashara's face when ever she told anyone that she had named her horse after her friend.

Swift had seemed glad to see her as she hadn't been able to find the time to visit the stable and the last time she had rode him was during her wedding and she promised him that she would take him out for a ride soon, even though she knew that horse couldn't understand her.

After leaving the stable Ashara and Elia decided to go and introduce themselves to Ser Rodrik Cassel, a man in his early thirties who Elia had seen from a distance many times before but had never spoken too. They didn't mange to make it to the sparring area however before they could get there they were side-tracked.

By a giant who could only speak a single word over and over, when Elia had bumped into him she nearly had a heart attack. The man who at least as tall as her good-father if not taller and looked down at her with a blank expression for a moment before a wide smile appeared on his face and his eyes light up. "Hodor." He had said.

To say that both she and Ashara had been confused would be an understatement, they had never seen this giant before and now he had seemed to appear out of nowhere and could only seem to say one word. It did not take either of them long to realise they were dealing with someone of simple wits.

They were both a little unsure of what to do as while the man did not seem threatening he could only say the one word and neither of them had ever interacted with anyone like the man before. Then thankfully, and strangely, an old woman who was slightly bent over seemingly appeared out of no where and shooed the man away, telling him not to be silly.

The woman turned to face them and looked them over, Elia specifically and spoke in a voice that was rough with age. "So, you're the one who married sweet Ned."

The woman was clearly a servant and Elia imagined that if cared more about social status then she would be offended by the old woman referring to her husband as Ned and not as Lord Eddard but she was never too fussed about status to be honest, she had wanted to marry Rhaegar because she loved him not because she had wanted to be the queen, and the woman clearly spoke in good fun and had much affection for her sweet Ned.

The woman referred to herself as Old Nan, apparently she had been looking after the children of Winterfell for a very long time. Well, at least that's what she thought she was doing, according to Ned most of what Old Nan did was tell a lot of stories, mostly about things north of the wall like the night king and the others.

Still Elia had grown fond of the old woman in the past month, listening to all her stories had not only allowed Elia to learn a great deal more about the north but she also had a great deal of stories about her new family. The two women actually had something of a tradition, every day when Elia had some free time and she wasn't spending it with Ned or with Ash then she would go and visit the old woman with a pot of peppermint tea and lavender biscuits and the two women would spend their time telling one another stories.

All in all Elia thought that she, and Ashara, had managed to find their place in Winterfell.

Elia looked up as the door to the room opened and Catelyn walked in, the woman smiled at Elia and Elia returned it gladly, Catelyn was a more than agreeable companion and Elia and Ashara had enjoyed her company greatly. At the moment however the woman seemed to have a sense of melancholy around her.

"Is everything alright Catelyn?" Elia asked as she gestured at the chair next to her and Catelyn sat down in it.

"I'm fine, I just..." Catelyn sighed heavily and looked down at her. "I do not think that Brandon likes me."

Elia quickly shot a glance at Ashara who was looking down at Lauryn who was currently in the middle of dozing off, more specifically she was trying to look at anywhere other than Catelyn. Elia looked back at Catelyn and placed her hand on her shoulder. "I am sure that is not at all true, and if he doesn't then he is the stupidest man to ever live."

Catelyn looked up and her blue eyes were swimming in tears and Elia's heart felt a stab of pity for her. "But I am to marry him! And he doesn't even like me! My father ordered me to stay here so we could get to know one another but he always avoids me or he finds other things that need his attention or when we do spend time together he simply ignores me!"

Elia didn't know what to say that could be of any comfort so she simply reached forward and started to rub Catelyn's back, hoping that would offer her even the slightest comfort. Catelyn did seem to take some solace in the comfort as she did not burst out crying but it was clear for all to see that she was still upset.

And then Lauryn, brought out of her doze by Catelyn's shouting and crying, hopped out of her mother's lap toddled over to the grown woman and gently patted her on the knee. "Feel better!" She said with a bright smile.

Catelyn's eyes went wide as she stared down at the little girl for a moment before she looked up at Ashara, Ashara held her gaze for a moment before she nodded her head and then Catelyn reached down and picked Lauryn up and placed her in her lap. "Thank you Lauryn, I am sure I will."

Elia smiled proudly at her friend, she knew how difficult that was for her considering who Lauryn's father was and how protective she was of Lauryn.

The door opened again and this time Lyanna walked in, her long dark hair wad pulled back into a messy pony tail and she was dressed in a simply grey frock. "My father said he wanted to talk to you Lady Catelyn, so please dry your eyes and come with me to see him."

"Lady Catelyn was quite upset a moment ago Lady Lyanna, please give us a moment." Elia said diplomatically but Lyanna simply looked annoyed.

"Father said I was to bring her to him directly, I do have better things to do than wait around here for you." Lyanna then smirked. "What exactly is the problem lady Cat, did you drop a stich?"

"What is wrong with you!?" Ashara said as she jumped out of her chair, her violet eyes glowing with anger. "I can understand why you might not have liked us at first but we've been here a month and you haven't even tried to get to know us while we have tried with you. You could at least try and be courteous to us, we've been with you."

Lyanna reeled back for a moment before she got closer to the other woman. "There is nothing wrong with me, I just don't see the point in getting upset over every little thing! Letting your emotions control you, it's pathetic! I won't ever be anything like you! It's pathetic! And I certainly won't open my legs to any man who gives me the slightest interest and ended up with a babe in my belly-"

Before Lyanna could continue Ashara reached out and slapped Lyanna straight across the face, Lyanna held her cheek and looked at Ashara with wide eyes and Elia and Catelyn stared at both of them in shock, neither of them knowing what would happen next. Lauryn whimpered and cuddled closer in to Catelyn who wrapped her arm around her.

Then Lyanna slapped Ashara across her cheek. Then Ashara slapped her back. Then Lyanna. Then Ashara. This threatened to go on for awhile until Elia got in-between them and pushed them both away from one another. "Enough! Both of you! Are you women or are you children!?"

"Now, Lyanna. You seem to think that being lady-like makes you weak?" Elia asked and for a moment Lyanna was quite, her lips pursed together before she nodded. Elia nodded. "Then I shall prove you wrong, please show Lady Catelyn to your Father's solar and then meet me in the training grounds."

Lyanna stared at her for a moment before she let out a mocking laugh. "You...you want to fight me, really? Are you stupid or just suicidal?"

"Just confident." Elia said with a smile.

Lyanna sighed. "Fine, don't say I didn't warn you." Lyanna turned on her feet and left the room, Catelyn sighed and stood up and left the room but not before handing Lauryn back to Ashara.

"Are you sure about this?" Ashara asked her friend as she sat back down and picked up her needlework, she wasn't worried about her because she knew that Elia was more than capable of taking care of herself but she was slightly worried about how it would look to the others, especially Lord Eddard.

"I am more than capable of dealing with her and besides, do you honestly think I would let the little cow speak to you and slap you like that?" Elia asked and Ashara shook her head, she knew that Elia was just protecting her like she would do for her.

Elia nodded and focused back on her needlework, she wasn't going to go until she finished this.

* * *

Lyanna stood in the middle of the training ground and picked up her favourite sword to use, she had always beat Benjen with this sword. She didn't know what Elia was thinking but it would be fun to beat the snooty little princess.

At the moment the training grounds were empty as Ser Rodrik was helping Maester Cussul teach Benjen about war tactics, she was never taught about anything like that and only because she was a woman. It didn't matter how much stronger or faster or smatter or how much of a better swordsman she was than her baby brother all that mattered to the world was that she was a woman, that she had a place to fill in the world.

That's why she was so angry at Elia and Ashara and Catelyn, they clearly weren't stupid but they had given in. They'd given up and made peace with only being wives and mothers, it made her sad and that made her angry.

A moment later she was drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of a sword being taken out of it's stand, she looked up and saw Elia but how she was dressed struck her. Instead of the red or yellow dresses she usually wore she was now wearing a set of brown leather armour. Ashara was standing a little ways behind her, holding her daughter in her arms and glaring at Lyanna.

"Are you sure you really want to do this? I'm good with a sword, I'm a much better swordsman than Benjen." Lyanna said as she and Elia began to circle around one another.

"Congratulations, you are a better fighter than a ten year old I am incredibly impressed." Elia said and she couldn't help but laugh at the dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Alright, enough talk!" Lyanna shouted and swung her sword at Elia, the swords were blunted but a blade was still a blade so she had to be careful. Elia bought up her blade and blocked all of Lyanna's blows.

"I've beaten Ned and I've beaten Brandon before! I can beat you as well!" Lyanna shouted as she kept up the pace she was attacking but no matter how fast she swung or how hard she hit Elia simply kept blocking every single blow like it was nothing.

"Lyanna Stark! Stop this now!" The loud voice of Lord Rickard Stark echoed around the training yard, Lyanna and Elia looked to see Lord Rickard storming towards them with Brandon, Ned, Benjen and Catelyn following behind him. Lyanna realised with a glower that Catelyn must have told her father about what was happening and now she was in for a bollocking.

"Good-father! Wait!" Elia shouted and Rickard turn to look at her. "Let us finish! I do not ask you to approve or understand but know that this is important to me and I must finish, please!"

Lord Rickard looked at his good-daughter for a moment before he sighed and stepped back, both Ned and Brandon looked surprised, and Ned worried for his wife, that he had given in so easily. He almost never gave in.

And so the fight continued, Lyanna kept up her aggressive approach but Elia kept easily blocking every blow. When Lyanna got in close Elia swung as hard as she could with her sword and Lyanna's sword went flying from her hand, Elia then held the point of her sword just an inch away from Lyanna's throat.

"We are more alike than you think Lyanna, the only true difference is I never needed to have my brothers let me win." Elia said before she threw her sword to the side and began to walk away.

She only managed to take a few steps before she suddenly started to feel dizzy, she realised with a start what was about to happen and by the look on her face and the fact she began to walk towards her so did Ashara, with a violent upheaval Elia emptied the contents of her stomach on to the muddy ground and fell down to it.

The last thing she heard before was dead to the world was Catelyn screaming and Ned and Ashara calling her name.

End of Chapter Twelve

* * *

 **Please review, favourite and follow if you enjoyed. Constructive criticism is welcome.**


	13. Chapter 13

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirteen.

Elia walked down the corridors of the palace of Sunspear, trying not mind all the snakes that slithered around on the floor as they fled from the great green blaze that burned in on the rooms. There was thick black smoke colouring the air but she had no difficulty in breathing it.

What was she doing here again? Where was Ned?

She needed to find Doran, he would know what to do.

Eight snakes, large than any of the others and coloured yellow followed behind her. Elia felt no fear, she had walked among vipers her entire life and not a one had bit her. They followed her loyally, like a pack.

As she approached Doran's solar she looked down when she a rough tongue licking at her fingers, she looked down and saw a large grey wolf with solemn eyes looking up at her. Elia raised her hand and gently petted it's head and the wolf let out a contented growl.

She pushed open the door of the solar and stepped in, the wolf and the snakes disappeared and she gasped when she who was sitting in the chair behind the table.

It wasn't Doran.

It was her mother.

She didn't seem to notice or even care that the chair she was sitting on was made of hundreds of snakes that slithered all around, nor did she seem to care about the giant wolf and the large that were fighting a large red spider with seven legs in the corner of the room.

All she did was take one look at Elia and smiled, she climbed out of her throne of serpents and walked over to her daughter and held her at arms length. "Hello my love, how beautiful you have become. I remember a sickly little girl who used to hide behind my skirts, where has she gone?"

"She hasn't gone anywhere. I still feel like a little girl, I wish I could say that I felt like a grown woman but I don't." Elia said with tears in her eyes, the last time she had seen her was at the end of her life, lying weakly in her bed. She had not been a young woman when Elia was born and no matter how strong you were no one could withstand the ravages of time.

"You never feel as through you have grown up, my sweet girl." Her mother whispered as gently pushed her hair behind her ears and cupped her face gently. "You are never really ready to face the world, what is important is that you always do the best that you can and that you be strong for the ones you love and when you need them to be they are strong for you."

"This is a dream, isn't it?" Elia whispered.

"Is it?" Her mother asked with amused grin on her face. "Perhaps, but the question is, whose dream is it?" She gently took her daughter's hand and lead her out on to the balcony. There was no sign of Sandspear, all that the balcony overlooked was an endless desert of red sand.

In the sky there was a large silver dragon flying high, it's wings beating almost lazily. Far beneath it in the red sand were a lioness and a she-wolf, circling around one another.

"There are many trials to come my love, you must be ready if you and those who you love are to surive." Her mother said as stared off into the distance, her eyes seeming far away. "I wish I could do more but I am beyond your reach, just know that no matter what I shall love you. From this day until your last."

"Mother...I am afraid." Elia admitted tearfully.

"What can I tell you to make it better?" Her mother asked her quietly.

"Tell me that you won't leave me." Elia pleaded, she couldn't do this without her. She was stranded far away from people who loved her unconditionally, she was fond of her husband, perhaps she even loved him, and Ashara was a massive help but it wasn't the same as being around people who she knew would die for her.

Her mother said nothing, simply looked at her with a look of sadness in her dark eyes. She had never seen her mother look at her like that. Elia reached out with her hand to touch her mother but as soon as her fingers brushed against her mother's shoulder she vanished, dissolving like mist in the bright sun.

"No! Mother! Don't leave me here! I don't want to be on my own!" Elia shouted, she quickly wiped her head around to see if she could see any sign of her but there was no sign, it was like she had never been there at all.

It was suddenly too much and Elia collapsed to the ground and sobbed, she honestly thought that she wouldn't be able to stop herself but she stopped when she felt something encircling her arms and the sound of paws padding against the floor.

She looked up and saw the quite wolf standing in front of her with the large wolf, the she wolf and two other wolves standing behind him. Two serpents, one red and on green encircle her arms and gazed upon her face and eight yellow snakes slithered around her in a circle as two little green snakes slithered into her lap and felt herself being bathed in the light of brightest star in the heavens.

She wasn't alone. She had never been alone in her entire life.

All too suddenly however the light was gone, being blocked out by a large, looming shadow. Elia looked onto the balcony and she felt her breath catch in her throat as she gazed upon what was casting the long reaching shadow.

A dragon, far larger than the silver one that had been flying through the sky a moment ago yet it still some how managed to perch itself on the ledge. Elia couldn't tell what colour it was due to how dark it had suddenly gotten but she could tell one thing about the dragon immediately.

It had three heads.

The middle head of the dragon screamed and two streams of fire shot out of the left and right head and Elia-

-Woke up screaming in bed, Ned and Ashara jumping back in surprise.

She kept screaming and couldn't breath, Ned quickly rushed to her and held her close. "My lady! You are all right, please be calm." He gently kissed the top of her head. "You were only dreaming."

"I'll go and fetch the maester." Ashara said as she left the room but not before casting one last look back at her friend.

After a few moments Elia managed to calm down as she realised that she was safe, there was no dragon here. All the dragons were long dead. "I'm sorry Ned, I know I was only dreaming but it was...very real, it seemed like I was truly there."

"May I ask what it was about, Elia?" Ned asked as he gently stroked her back, he didn't want to press her as she had only just woken up.

"I...I dreamed that I saw my mother." Elia admitted. "She did several years ago, she was not a young woman she had me and I was still rather young."

"I am very sorry Elia." Ned said while gently holding her close. "We did hear about your mother, if it helps I do know how you feel. My mother died a few years ago as well, I dream of her sometimes as well."

Elia said nothing and simply let her husband speak, gently stroking his arm. "I'm sorry Ned."

Ned cleared his throat and nodded. "I was worried about you." He said changing topics rather quickly. "We all were."

"I am touched." Elia said, meaning every word. "And I am honestly fine, such a thing like this can happen when I exert myself. I do hope I didn't scare you two badly, how long have I been asleep?"

"Nearly a day and a half." Ned said and then his eyes widen and he pulled away. "You must be hungry, forgive me for not realising sooner I will go and fetch you some food."

Ned was already getting off of the bed but stopped when Elia placed her arm on her husband's arm.

"No, please don't leave me. Not yet." Elia asked with a small tremor in her voice. "When ever something like this happens Doran or Oberyn, they always stay with me. Make sure that I am not alone, I do not wish to be on my own."

"Of course my Lady." Ned said as he returned to his original position, holding Elia again when she asked him too. "If I may ask, I know you were sick but...why did you not tell me like things like this could happen, I am your husband if you could faint or you feel unwell then I must know."

"I always feel unwell." Elia admitted and then sighed as her husband looked at her with worry burning in his grey eyes and Elia sighed greatly. "I was born very small and nearly a moon's turn before I should've been, my mother has always had trouble conceiving children and she had several miscarriages and before I and Oberyn were born she had two other sons, both of them died when they were babes."

Brothers she never knew, Mors and Olyvar, she often found herself wondering what they would be like if they had lived longer, would they've been adventures like Oberyn? Scholars like Doran? Would they have been neither? Instead becoming artists or mercenaries or perhaps even runaway to join the Night's watch?

She would never know, and that saddened her beyond measure.

"My mother was told that I would likely not live long, I was smaller than any of her other babes and our Maester said it would be a gift from the gods if I lived for a full moon's turn, but live I did." Elia said with a smile. "My mother said that I would live and I did, my little heart just kept on beating."

"However I was still a small babe and I was often very sick, you've heard of how warm it is in Dorne? Well my mother would still have me bundled in blankets regardless, even on the hottest of days when steel threatened to melt." Elia said as she recalled one of earliest memories, sitting with her mother as she watched children jump and splash in the water while she sat with her mother fully dressed.

"I often have deep aches in my bones, it never stops actually but I've learned to hide it." Ned opened his mouth to speak but Elia held up her hand to stop him. "If you are about to say that you wish to tell the Maester then I will not stop you but I must tell you that there is no point, our Maester examined me and told me that he could fine no cause for the pain. It is simply something I have to live with."

Ned seemed extremely upset at this revelation but it also seemed like he realised that there was nothing he could to stop his wife's pain so he simply nodded and beckoned her to continue.

"When I do get sick I am often bed-ridden for months, I also sometimes get very light headed." Elia said as looked up at Ned. "I do not faint very often, I can count the number of times that it has happened on one hand and I do not vomit often and it only really happens when I do a lot all at once."

"And I...I." Elia sighed, this was what she had been dreading for a very long time. She was almost certain that Doran had informed Lord Rickard but she wasn't sure how much Ned had been made aware. "According to my maester, it will be very difficult for me to conceive a child."

The room was silent and Elia looked down quickly, she couldn't bare to see the look of disappointment. She did not think that Ned would hate her, he was too good a man for that but what in the world was worse than the disappointment of a good person?

Elia gently felt Ned cup her chin and he gently turned it so he could look her in the eye, his eyes were full of understanding and compassion and something that she would like to hope was love. He gently leaned in and kissed her.

They stayed like that for a long moment, kissing and holding one another. It was Elia who eventually broke the kiss and she did so with great reluctance but she had to ask a question. "Where is Lyanna?"

Ned's soft grey eyes suddenly harden. "She's been confined to her room and she only comes out for meals, Father is furious with her. I am furious with her."

"I get the feeling that you being furious with her is something of an uncommon occurrence." Elia observed and Ned nodded.

"I honestly thought that there was nothing she could do to make me angry with her, to make me..." He didn't finish the sentence but Elia knew how he was going to finish it. "But...when I saw you faint I...I was so angry with her because, my lady I think I-"

Before Ned could finish the door opened and Ashara and Maester Cussul walked into the room and Ned and Elia both let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Forgive me for intruding my Lord but when Lady Ashara that told me that the princess was awake I thought that I had best come as soon as possible." Cussul said with a small bow.

"You needn't apologise wise Maester, you did the right thing." Ned got off of the bed so the Maester could get closer to examine Elia.

"How do you feel Princess?" The Maester asked as he took Elia's wrist and felt her pulse, nodding with a small frown when he noticed that it was a little faster than he would've liked.

"Quite alright Maester, this is not the first time that such a thing has happened." Elia said as he sat down next to her.

"And when it did happen, what did your Maester recommend?" Cussul asked.

"That I was confined to bed rest and have all my meals brought to me and I avoid anything that might cause me distress." Elia said as she remembered one of the many times the cranky old Maester back at Sunspear had confined her to her bed.

"Well, I am afraid I must agree." Cussul said as he stood up, groaning as he did. "I would also recommend a little milk of the poppy mixed into a glass of water before you go to bed but we can discus that later, I would recommend that we leave the Princess to rest my Lord, my Lady."

Both Ned and Ashara nodded but before they left Ashara went over and hugged her friend and kissed her forehead, Ned kissed her on the lips and both were about to leave the room with the Maester when Elia called out. "Ned, would mind staying with me? Just until I fall asleep."

Ned looked back at his wife and nodded with a smile, Ashara left the room with the Cussul and shut the door behind them.

Elia and Ned laid down on the bed and rested their head on the pillows, wrapping their arms around one another. "What were you going to say to me when Ashara and the Maester walked in?" She asked with eyes already closed.

"Do I need to say it? Do you truly not already know?" Ned asked as he gently stroked her face.

"I may already know but I would like to here it just the same." Elia said with a contented hum as Ned stroked her face.

"Very well then, I love you Elia. I love you so much." Ned whispered as he rested her forehead against Elia's.

"And I love you Ned." Elia said opening her eyes and kissing her husband.

And there the two of them stayed, their arms wrapped around one another and kissing and repeating their declarations until they fell asleep.

End of Chapter Thirteen.

* * *

 **And there we go! I guess you could call this an end to the first...act of this story, I hope everyone is enjoying this story and I would like everyone to know how much I appreciate every single review, negative or not.**

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	14. Chapter 14

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fourteen.

Jamie sighed as he watched the landscape slowly roll past the windows of the wheelhouse, he hated it in here it was always too hot and he had no idea how sister was able to stand it. He would much rather be on a horse, galloping through the countryside and feeling the air blow through his hair but he had promised Father that he would stay in the wheelhouse.

Speaking of his father he was still angry with him for forcing Tyrion to stay at Casterly Rock, he clearly didn't care about his brother's well being so the only reason he had kept him back was to stop him from shaming the family name, he had admitted as much.

He missed his brother, he loved his sister more than anything in this world but she was not the most pleasant of company at the moment with her constant talk of how wonderful and handsome her future husband was and how she was going to be such a good queen, it was driving him insane. She didn't even seem to care about how each word was like a dagger to his heart.

Didn't she understand how much he loved her? Didn't she understand that he couldn't go on without her?

That was why he wished Tyrion was here, he would roll his eyes and make fun of everything their sister said not only to irritate her but to make him feel better about how she didn't seem to care that she was breaking his heart with every word of praise that she heaped on to her silver prince.

it added insult to injury that his sister was especially beautiful today, her long blond hair was pulled back into a braid and the dress she was _wearing_ showed off her pale skin and quite a bit of her cleavage. Her neck was unadorned and he couldn't help but lean in to press a kiss to it while he groped one of her breasts through her dressed, now he was glad that Tyrion wasn't here.

"Jamie!" Cersei said warningly as she scooted away from her brother and shot him a glare. "We can't do that anymore! I am going to be Rhaegar's wife, what would he think of me if he knew what we were doing! He would never look at me or touch me!"

Jamie at the moment was distracted by what she said about not doing this anymore, doing what? Being together? Showing her how much he loved her? Is that what she meant? And he didn't want Rhaegar to touch her.

"Given this his mother and father are brother and sister I am sure he won't mind too much, why it just means you having something to talk about!" Jamie said bitterly as he crossed his arms. "Your Father and Mother are related, how interesting! Tell me my love, do you know I fuck my brother?" He mocked while making voice high, making it a near perfect imitation of his sister's in his personal opinion.

Cersei's glare intensified. "That is not funny Jamie, I've been waiting for this! For him my entire life and you will not ruin this for me, do you understand me?!"

"Oh, sweet sister I would never ruin anything for you." Jamie said with a sickly sweet smile on his face while his eyes burned with rage. "Why are you doing this to me? We came into this world together, we belong together. I love you Cersei, you don't need him! Let's just go, we can run across the Narrow Sea and just be together."

"I do need him! I will be a queen, father has promised me that ever since I was a little girl and I will be queen! Marrying you will not get me a crown!" Cersei stressed, not sure why her brother was being so stupid. "Now stop it! Stop being a child, I will marry Rheagar and you will find yourself a wife that father will approve of, understood?"

"Yes." Jamie growled before he turned his head to look at anything other than his sister, anger and sadness battled for dominance inside of him. "I hope your Dragon makes you very happy."

"I am sure he will." Cersei spat as she looked over her dress. "And you've no right to complain about anything I do, you left me first."

Jamie turned his head to look at his sister with confusion and disbelief playing on his face. "What in the name of all the gods are you on about?"

"You left me first, you left me to squire for that fat old lord." Cersei said bitterly. "I begged you not to go but you left anyway, you have no right to judge me."

Jamie looked at his sister like she had just grown a second head, she couldn't be serious could she? "Do you mean Lord Crakehall? That wasn't my choice! I begged father not to send me away but you know that he wouldn't listen to me, I would never leave you by choice and I hated every second that I was away from you."

"And I didn't choose to marry Rheagar but I am going to make the best of it, so why are you angry with me?" Cersei asked as she crossed her arms.

"I am angry because while it may be father ordering you to do it you have no problem going through with it, you will sleep with the prince and be happy about it and I am angry because the woman I love will not stop going on about how wonderful her new husband will be and how much she is going to enjoy being his queen, that is why I am angry with you?" Jamie ranted and then had to take a moment to catch his breath.

"Cersei, don't you love me?" Jamie asked and he hated how weak his voice sounded but he couldn't help it, he loved Cersei more than anything and she wasn't willing to fight to be with him at least not as hard as he was willing to fight with her.

"I do love you Jamie and I will always need you." Cersei said with a sweet smile as she took her brother's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as she leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss and then whispered into his ear. "But I want to be the queen, I need to be the queen. I need it more than I need air. Please understand."

Jamie wanted to scream, he wanted shout and shake his sister till she understood that she didn't need a crown, she didn't need to be a queen when she had him. They could go to the free cities and he would work as a sellsword, they would go to sleep together in the same bed and be able to love one another without anyone ever knowing the truth.

It was a beautiful dream but he knew that Cersei would never go along with it, she wanted to be the queen and the queen she would be even if she had to move all seven heavens and all seven hells and slay all the gods singlehandedly to do it.

And the worst thing was that no matter how much it would hurt him to see his sister in the arms of another man he would still help her in anything she asked of him.

He was never able to deny his sister anything.

"I understand Cersei, I'm sorry sweet sister. I did not mean to yell at you." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and smoothed her blond hair below her braid. "Forgive me."

"I forgive you." Cersei said with a smug smile, as if by doing so she had bestowed on to her brother the greatest honour. "And in time you can join the Kingsguard, and then we'll never be far from one another."

"That will be wonderful." Jamie muttered as he turned to look back through the window, he didn't want to talk about this anymore.

For what seemed like like an eternity they sat in almost complete silence, the only noise being the creak of the wheels beneath them. The wheelhouse then suddenly came to a stop and Cersei gasped exictedly as she poked her head out her winder while Jamie did the same on his side.

The first thing anyone ever noticed about King's Landing was the red keep, at the very top of Aegon's hill it loomed, a red bloated spider with seven legs. Down below was the city its self with the great sept of baelor being the first thing that caught the eye after the keep.

Jamie knew that most would assume that King's Landing was all perfumed nobles and extravagant riches but he knew it wasn't true, when he was squiring for Lord Crakehall. Most of the time he had stayed in the red keep but when he was bored he had snuck out and he had gone exploring, even though he knew if his father found out it would be worse than the time he had found him dangling over the cliff face of Casterly.

He still hadn't forgiven Cersei for telling their father that he had been climbing.

While he had been exploring he found that only a small fraction of the city had any real wealth, while it was true that most of the city weren't languishing in flea bottom the people were still more poor than wealthy and he had received more than his share of dirty looks, it was clear to everyone who saw him that he was highborn and that had sent him running back to the Red Keep.

Why Cersei and Father were so desperate to be involved in this place was beyond him, he would rather just leave this place to slowly rot and languish at the hands of the Mad King but he knew his opinion meant little to his father, at least it did in this matter.

"Oh, Jamie isn't it beautiful!" Cersei said with a wild grin as she took in the city.

"Yes, very beautiful." Jamie muttered. "If you don't mind the smell of shit."

"Why have we stopped?" Cersei asked annoyed as she glanced around at their father's guards on their horses. "Prince Rheagar is expecting me and I will not keep him waiting!"

"Yes Lady Cersei!" The guards said and the horses and the wheelhouse countined down the road, Cersei nodded satisfied and pulled her head back back into the wheelhouse at the same time as Jamie did.

To get into the city the wheelhouse would normally pass through the Dragon Gate as that was the gate that the Kingsroad ran through but there was a large queue waiting to go through and Cersei was clearly impatient to get to her future husband and wouldn't wait any longer.

The closest gate that was nearest was the old gate and that wasn't good as to pass through the gate they would still need to have everything checked but it was also the longest way to Aegon's hill but Cersei did not care as she wanted to get in the city and she wanted to go now and Jamie and the Knights knew better than to argue with her but she would soon come to regret it.

Because to get to Aegon's hill the wheelhouse and the host would have to go through Flea Bottom.

Jamie had never made it to Flea Bottom when he went on his journeys around the city but he heard the stories that were spread around the court, that the people there were nearly savage from their hunger and were covered in dirt and they would eat rat droppings if they could find nothing else.

The lords and ladies made it sound like they were monsters instead of people who were simply desperate but Jamie knew that was the way of the world, it made it easy for them to live their lives of utter comfort if they didn't have to think about those below suffering as human.

It wasn't that he was in any place to judge, he was highborn as well and he profited from the low being kept in there place and he had no plans to change the way the world worked, you just had to make the best of what you got. It wasn't his fault that he got an advantage pver others.

Heavy frown marred Cersei's face and her eyes narrowed as she looked out the window, she snorted in disgust before she spoke. "Gods, look at them Jamie. They are wretched, why does the King put up with these peasants ruining his city?" She asked as if she expected him to have an actual answer.

 _"Because they outnumber us ten to one and if the King tried to do anything about them then it would end with all of us torn to pieces."_ Jamie thought to himself as he glanced out the window to look at the dozens of dirty faces glaring at the wheelhouse rolling past and he knew that if it weren't for his father's knights then they would be upon the wheelhouse and tip it over and tear them apart.

He wished now that he hadn't packed his sword away into one of his trunks.

He then realised that Cersei was staring at him, waiting for an answer that he hadn't given her yet. "I do not know Cersei, I'm sure the King knows what is best."

"Well, when Rheagar is King and I am the queen I will do something about these filthy urchins." Cersei said with a smile before she turned back to look out the window, her eyes scanning hatefully over every dirty little face she saw.

Jamie couldn't help but wonder what he did was so terrible that the gods had decided to curse him by making him love such a hateful woman.

Thankfully they finally made there way out of Flea Bottem and their surroundings became much richer and Jamie wasn't sure if he was more grateful than they were out of immediate danger or because Cersei seemed to calm down.

The rest of the ride to the red keep was spent in silence and Jamie heaved a sigh of relief when they stopped in front of the great keep, he really needed to stretch his legs.

As soon as Cersei and Jamie stepped out of the wheelhouse a large pale skinned man with long red hair calm towards them and seemed to study them intensely. "You are Lady Cersei?" He asked his sister. "My prince has been expecting you. I am Lord Connington, he sent me to escort you."

"Excellent." Cersei said with a please smile as she stepped forward. "Take me to him." She turned to face her guards. "You will all wait here or do whatever it is you do in your own time, I honestly do not care. Jamie, will you come with me?"

Jamie would normally say yes as he didn't not like the idea of his sister going off with a strange man even though he knew Lord Connington and that Cersei was perfectly safe with him if the whispers going around the court were true, unless he killed her in a jealous rage for trying to take his precious sliver prince from him.

"No, I'll give you and your future husband some time on your own." Jamie said trying to pretend that saying those words did not break his heart.

Cersei smiled brightly and Jamie couldn't help but smile back, Cersei always looked beautiful but she looked even more so when she smiled and when she smiled like she did now and the sun made her hair glow like was gold mined straight from one of Casterly's veins.

She looked like the most beautiful woman in the world.

Jon offered his arm and Cersei took it and he lead her inside, Jamie sighed and told the guards to place the trunks into there apartments while he went for a walk.

He wasn't sure how long he was walking around the red keep but he eventually found his way to a covered bridge that overlooked the training yard, as he looked down his jaw nearly dropped when he noticed who two of the knight's standing in the yard, sparring with one another were.

Arthur Dayne and Lewyn Martell, both men of the Kingsguard were dressed in their shinning white armour both wielding their swords, Dayne welding the fabled Dawn that marked him as the sword of the morning.

Neither of the two knights seemed to have the upper hand despite the stories of how a fierce a swordsman Arthur Dayne was supposed to be and Jamie couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the younger knight was holding back. Regardless they were both glorious in the way that they fought to the way that they held themselves.

"Impressive aren't they?" A man who had crept up behind Jamie asked and Jamie turned to see who it was who had surprised him.

He was a lean man in perhaps his early twenties with bronze skin and dark curly hair with eyes so brown they were almost as black as coal. He wore an arrogant smirk on his face as he looked Jamie up and down and smiled in a way that almost seemed to be approving, if not a little hungry. "You're Jamie, Tywin Lannister's eldest son."

"Yes, yes I am." Jamie said as he felt his guard slowly come up. "And who are you ser?"

The man chucked, a deep sounding thing. "Forgive me, I am used to everyone knowing who I am back home and I suppouse it was foolish of me to think that you would remember me. I am Oberyn Martell."

Jamie had been talking to one of the princes of Dorne and he could've smacked himself for not realising sooner, the man was clearly Dornish and what other Dornishman other than a Martell or a Dayne would come to King's Landing. "Forgive me, Prince Oberyn. I didn't realise it was you."

"You had no reason to suspect who I was and the last time we saw one another was when we were little more than children." Oberyn said as he waved his hand to dismiss it, his eyes suddenly gained a dangerous edge as he seemed to realise something. "Why are you here? Oh wait, let me guess. Your lovely and oh so charming sister is to be Rhaegar's new queen."

The scorn in the Dornish prince's voice made Jamie flinch and normally he would not hesitate to rush to his sister's defence but he could find the will too, Cersei had...not been at her best when Oberyen and his sister had meet her. "Yes, she is." He said simply, there was nothing else he could say.

Oberyn hummed and took a step closer and Jamie had to remind himself to stand his ground, he was a lion and he would not cringe and he would not flee. "You know." Oberyn began. "My sister was going to marry Rhaegar, she was going to be the queen of the seven kingdoms."

"And now she isn't, now she's the wife of the warden of the North's second son." Jamie said. "Funny how life work's out, isn't it?"

For a moment Oberyn's face was like stone before he let out a little chuckle. "Indeed." Oberyn said before he stepped past Jamie and began to make his way inside.

"Prince Oberyn!" Jamie called and the prince stopped walking but didn't turn to face him. "Why are you here?"

Oberyn chuckled again and just slightly tilted his back to look at Jamie. "Lannister's aren't the only ones who pay their debts." And with that, he was gone.

Jamie suddenly felt like he was plunged into a vat of cold water, with one tiny action his family suddenly had an entire family of new enemies.

It could never be simple.

* * *

Cersei could hardly contain the bubble of excitement that brewed in her stomach, it was really happening. She was really here. She was in King's Landing and she was going to marry Rheagar and be a princess and soon she would be a queen as well.

It wouldn't be long, tales of the king's poor heath had reached the Westerlands. It was said that he did not even eat anymore and he barely slept or drank anymore, he was clinging to life by his fingernails by all accounts. She would be queen before too long.

And, maybe all he would need was a little push. She could do that, the king was a monster. She would lose no sleep over it and if her father and her future husband's plan worked...

Lord Connington stopped in front of a door and he knocked on it. "My Prince, Lady Cersei has arrived." He spoke through the door.

"Please show her in Jon." That gentle voice spoke and Cersei couldn't help but smile, his voice sounded so beautiful.

Lord Connington pushed the door open and he and Cersei walked into the room and her breath caught in her throat as she laid eyes on her prince.

He was so beautiful, his sliver hair was longer than hers and his eyes were the most striking purple she had ever seen in her entire life, for more pretty than Ashara Dayne's. He was muscular but slim and his hands ended with long, delicate fingers.

In that one moment Cersei was more attracted to her Prince than she had ever been to Jamie, she would gladly take Rhaegar into her bed whenever he asked it of her and she would gladly swell with his children and birth them all, dragons with golden hair and violet eyes or silver hair and green, they would be so beautiful.

"Your beauty is not overstated Lady Cersei." Rhaegar said with a smile as he gently took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles and suddenly there was a new heat stirring in her loins. "Could you leave us for a moment Jon?"

The ginger man grunted and left the room, muttering under his breath as he went.

"I want you to know that I will do everthing in my power to make you happy." Rhaegar said as he gently held Cersei's hands. "But please I understand that I need you to do your duty, I need children."

"I understand my love." Cersei said as gazed adoringly up at her prince. "I'll give you as many as you want." And she would, she would do anything to keep him happy with her.

Her loves eyes narrowed a little. "Did your father, did he see you off?" He asked.

Cersei blinked for a moment as she tried to understand before it suddenly hit her, she slid her left hand into her right dress sleeve and slid out a scroll of paper. "Yes he did and he sends his regards." She said as she handed the paper over.

"Thank you Lady Cersei, that eases my mind know end." Rhaegar said as he walked back to his desk and sat down to read the scroll. "I am sure you are tired from you journey on the Kingsroad, do you know where your apartments or would you like me to summon a servant so they can show you the way?"

Cersei could not keep the disappointed pout off of her face but she understood that her love had important work to do so she refused the offer of a servant and left her future husband and king to his work.

It wouldn't be long now.

End of Chapter Fourteen

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	15. Chapter 15

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifteen.

Elia smiled brightly down at Lauryn who was babbling happily up at her, the girl was growing like a weed and she seemed most suited for the cold of the north, she was happy and more active here then she had ever been in Dorne, and she had been very happy and active in Dorne. Given who Ashara had reviled who her father was it did not come as a massive surprise.

Through the child's newfound energy had continually tired her mother out as was to be expected, speaking of Ashara she was sitting in the chair next to her bed and was watching her daughter and her friend with a deep fondness but it was clear that she was exhausted from trying to keep up with her daughter.

Ashara and Lauryn had been keeping her company while she recovered from her collapse for the past three weeks and she was glad of it, there was nothing worse than recovering and being left on her own to deal with it. Having Ashara and Lauryn was a great help and stopped from climbing the walls out of sheer boredom.

They had not been the only ones to keep her company of course, her husband had been spending a great deal of time with her, some days they simply laid there spending time talking to one another and others times they did more than talk, quite a great deal more than talk.

Ned had been worried as he did not want to hurt her or hold back her recovery but she had managed to convince him when she told him that she was feeling a great deal better and any complaints had died in his throat when mounted atop him and rode him like a stallion to completion.

As time had passed the love they shared had grown, while they had not said it again since that day she had woken it was clear that she was not the only one who still felt that way, the way he smiled at her when he walked into her chambers, his sullen face brightening up. the way he held after they were done and kissed her forehead. The love they shared grew ever day and that realisation made her more happy then she ever thought possible.

Brandon and Lyanna had not made any appearances but that did not surprise Elia much as, as far as Elia was aware, Lyanna had still been confined to her room and Brandon did not seem the type to come and check on his brother's wife and Elia was glad that he didn't bother to visit her, they didn't have much in common and she wasn't sure if she would be able to stop herself from blurting out something that would make Brandon suspect about Lauryn and Ashara.

Catelyn had also come to visit her as well, most of the time they had simply spoken about how things with Brandon were going, the poor girl clearly need and most of their talks ended with younger woman crying and Elia trying to comfort her but she did not mind at all.

Lord Rickard had visited her a few times to make sure that she was well and to tell her that he had sent a letter to Doran to inform him of what had happened, when he told her that Elia had felt a surge of dread, not that she was worried about Doran's reaction as he was a reasonable man who knew that something like this would probably happen at some point and would trust her new family to look after her.

No, what worried her was Oberyn's reaction.

Oberyn was a viper and he acted before he thought his actions through properly, when he found out that she had collapsed he was likely to ride day and night with an army of men at his back to make sure she was well and that the Starks were looking after her properly.

And while she appreciated that Oberyn's actions would've been done out of love she truly didn't want to be the cause of a diplomatic incident when a large force of Dornish troops tried to pass through the neck, and if he found that Lyanna was partly the cause of it then he would more than likely try to kill her.

Thankfully Doran had sent a letter back and it arrived a few days back, Oberyn hadn't even been in Dorne when the letter arrived as he and his three daughters had gone to King's Landing and Doran had seen it wise not inform him of her collapse. Elia couldn't help but grin when she had seen that written.

Though she did have to admit that she was more than a little confused as to why Oberyn was in King's Landing, Doran didn't say and Elia got the sense that her brother would not tell her if even if she asked so she had simply sent a simple reply back.

She could write to Uncle Lewyn and ask him as to why Oberyn was there, Uncle Lewyn always had a soft spot for her and he would likely tell her and even if he didn't then she could ask Ashara to write to Arthur to see if he knew as she knew that her friend's brother couldn't deny her anything.

More than anything else she didn't want her brother causing trouble and she didn't want him doing it in her name, she may have wanted to marry Rhaegar once, she may have loved him once, she may have wanted to be queen once nut she had made her peace with the fact that ship had sailed and she didn't want her little brother to open old wounds and cause more problems.

Elia shook her head, she didn't want to think about this anymore. Doran wouldn't risk this alliance or her for anything and she trusted that he had everything in hand.

Aside from Lord Rickard, her husband, Catelyn, Ashara and Lauryn however the only other person who came to visit her was young Benjen Stark.

Benjen had always struck Elia as a sweet boy but they hadn't really spent much of anytime together but ever since she had been confined to her room to recover Benjen had come to see her every single day and since then a solid bond between the two had been formed.

Most of the time they simply spoke with one another about anything that came to mind, the boy had several different interests to her but they had bonded over two things. Sword play and horse riding.

The boy had been extremely impressed that she had managed to beat his sister as he had never been able to do that and she had surprised him with how well she had ridden.

She was more than a little surprised that she had been able to beat Lyanna if she was going to be honest, she had only agreed to train with the use of a sword to please her mother. She would much rather having tea with other ladies and study to become a great lady or play Cyvasse with Doran than train in the sparing yard.

But Ashara was her friend and Catelyn was a sweet girl that she liked and she wasn't going to let Lyanna speak ill of either of them without doing something about it and while originally she had actually planned to challenge her to a game of Cyvasse she realised that not only did Lyanna not seem like the type of girl who knew how to play Cyvasse and that even if she did beating her at a game wouldn't leave the deserted impact.

She hadn't actually touched a sword since she was at least twelve and she didn't honestly think she was going to win, she had spared with Oberyn and Doran in the past but only a couple of times between them but what she had said to Lyanna had been true, neither of her brothers had ever let her win.

She could still remember the look of surprise on Oberyn's face after she managed to disarm even after all this time.

And while Lyanna might've been a decent swordsman she was nowhere near as skilled as Oberyn, compared to him beating her was easy.

When it came to riding however the two of them had a great deal to talk about, Benjen's favourite mount was a large black stallion that he was positively dwarfed by but he rode it easily and they talked about places they could go riding too, there was a lake that was almost always completely frozen and it looked beautiful when the sun shinned on it.

As they talked however Elia couldn't help but notice that the boy seemed to have an unspoken sadness about him and Elia realised why. Lyanna often called herself a better swordsman and rider than Benjen and it was clear that her little brother was starting to believe it.

That's why he was so interested in talking with her because she was proof that he might one day be able to beat his sister, one day.

Aside from swordplay and horse-riding something did bond over was Cyvasse, apparently it wasn't a very well known game in the north but Benjen had proven to be a natural at it and there had been quite a few games where he very nearly beat her.

Lauryn suddenly whimpered which brought Elia out of her thoughts, the girl had tears in her eyes and she was sucking on her thumb. "Are you hungry little one?" Elia asked as she gently rubbed her back. "Tired?"

"She's tired, she only whimpers like that if she's tired." Ashara said as she stood up from her chair and yawned. "I understand how she feels." She said as she scooped her daughter up.

"Well, why don't you take her and you can both have a nap?" Elia suggested as she adjusted her blanket.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Ashara said as she cuddled Lauryn close to her, the little girl's head buried into her mother's neck. She didn't like the idea of leaving her friend on her own, she knew how lonely it could be for her.

"Go." Elia said firmly with a smile. "You are exhausted and you probably need to sleep more than she does, I am capable of amusing myself for an afternoon, I've got some needlework to catch up on anyway. Now go."

Ashara laughed and did a little bob. "As my princess commands." She said mockingly before she turned on her feet and made her way to the room door and pulled it open, when she saw who was on the other side of the door the amused grin on her face slipped away and was replaced with a heavy frown. "What are you doing here?"

Elia looked up and saw Lyanna standing in the doorway, the normally proud girl seemed to be slumped and she suddenly seemed a lot smaller, she had a thick book held under one of her arms. "I...I'm just here to apologise."

"And what if she doesn't want to here your apology?" Ashara hissed at the other girl and Elia never knew her friend could be so nasty but she realised that she had always been protective of her, almost as bad in Oberyn in some ways, and normally there was no one to punish for her being ill but now there was someone.

Lyanna looked like a mouse in front of a lion and Elia couldn't help but feel a surge of pity for the girl, it was so odd to see Lyanna like this but she understood why she was like this, her father and Eddard had been angry at her for what had happened and had blamed her.

"Ashara, let Lyanna come in and go and get some sleep. You need some." Elia said and she stared at her friend firmly as she turned her head to look at Elia with disbelief but sighed as Elia simply kept looking at her and left the room, pushing past Lyanna.

"Thank you." Lyanna said as she stepped into the room and set the heavy book down on to the table next to the bed and sat herself down on to the bed. "I am sorry, I didn't mean for to get sick."

"I know you didn't, you're not a bad person Lyanna." Elia said as she placed her hand gently on her shoulder, Lyanna glanced down at it but she didn't pull away. "But I would like if you aplogise to Ashara and Catelyn, especially to Catelyn. You were rather cruel to her."

"I know, I know that I was." Lyanna said, her voice barely more than a whisper and tears welling up in her grey eyes. "I don't know why, it was just...you're all clearly smart and you're just...accepting everything, accepting that this is all you could be when it's not and...and it's just not that as well its-"

She couldn't continue, the girl's face crumpled and she began to sob harshly and Elia's heart broke for her as she pulled Lyanna into a hug, stroking her back when it was clear that the other woman wasn't going to pull away.

After a few minutes Lyanna started to calm down and after a few more whimpers she pulled away. "Sorry." She said again as she rubbed at her eyes.

"It's alright, now what were you going to say?" Elia said as she kept rubbing her back. "Tell me, please?"

Lyanna sighed, it was so heavy that it nearly made her entire body shudder. "It...it feels like I'm losing my brothers."

Elia didn't say anything, letting the other woman speak.

"You're marrying Ned and you are not going to stay here with him, you'll be given a hold fast somewhere. Benjen's going to marry someone as well, probably a girl from the south as well and Brandon is going to stay here with Catelyn and I have to go and marry that whoring bastard." Lyanna said but there wasn't the normal heat in her voice when she spoke of Robert, she sounded more tired than anything else.

"I'm going to have to leave my home, to marry a man like that be hundreds of miles away from all the people who love me." Lyanna said as she played with a loose thread on the sleeves of her dress, all her dresses seemed to have loose threads on them somewhere. "Father always, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives. But I am going to be a lone wolf, so how am I going to survive married to man like that as well as being alone?"

Elia felt her heart break once again for Lyanna and she understood now why Oberyn sometimes cursed how gentle her heart was, all she needed was to see someone upset and she would always try and make them feel better even if they had been cruel to her.

But she couldn't help it, she had always had a gently heart. It was who she was for as long as she could remember, she couldn't stand to see anyone suffer. Like that poor little baby boy that was locked away by his family and tormented by his cruel sister, even after all this time her thoughts still sometimes drifted to Tyrion Lannister, she prayed to all the seven that things had changed for him, that he had all the love he deserved even though she knew the gods weren't that kind.

She gently took Lyanna's hands and looked straight into her eyes which slowly starting to fill with tears once again. "Your brothers love you a great deal, there is no distance that they would not travel for you. Nothing they would not do. No war that they would not fight for you. So even if you do marry Robert and have to be his wife, do you honestly think that they would not come for you if you asked? That would not kill him if they thought for even a moment that he was mistreating you?"

"Ned wouldn't, he hasn't spoken a word to me since you fainted. He hates me." Lyanna said with a hiccup as tears rolled down her red cheeks. "I never thought that Ned could hate anyone, certainly not me."

"He is your brother, he does not hate you. He loves you a very great deal." Elia said as she brushed the tears away with her thumb. "He is very angry with you and I think he will be for a while longer but he does not hate you, I will ask him to speak with you to make it clear that he does not hate you."

"Thank you." Lyanna whispered. "And I know I've no right to complain, you came all the way here, thousands and thousands of miles away from your family but at least you got to marry a good man, one who would never leave your bed." Lyanna shook her head. "I just do not want to marry him."

"I know you don't." Elia said gently. "But...he is young, give him a chance he may surprise you and did you know how you said that part of the reason that you were angry with I, Ashara and Catelyn was because you thought that we simply giving in to the way things were?"

She waited for Lyanna to nod before she continued. "We aren't. You can't change the world over night and you can not work against the system, sometimes you have to work in the system and when you do that you can learn how it works, how it really works and when you do that you can learn to take advantage of the flaws."

"I know that isn't for you, I know you would rather be a warrior and fight and make your own way in the world, but do not make the mistake of thinking that we are weak." Elia said as she gave Lyanna's hands a gentle squeeze.

"I know you aren't weak, you've already proven that to me." Lyanna said with a laugh. "I am really sorry, I mean it."

"I know you are, and I accept. Now, just apologise to Ash and Catalyn and it's in the past." Elia said with a smile and she couldn't stop it from widening as the other girl smiled back.

"By the way, what is that?" Elia asked as she tilted her head to the book that Lyanna had set down on the table when she had come in.

"It's the castle ledger, part of my punishment is that instead of riding I have to spend all my free time overseeing the money of the castle and making sure that everything is stocked up." Lyanna sighed as she laid down on the bed and crossed her arms. "I've never been very good with figures."

"Would you mind if I had a look?" Elia asked and when Lyanna shrugged she took that as a yes and reached out for the book, grunting as she realised how heavy it was.

She flipped it open to the last page that had writing on and she noticed that some of the figures did seem a little...off, to say the least. Now she didn't know how much Lyanna had been involved but she, Catelyn and Ashara had all tried to get involved with the running of the castle in someway and all of them had took a turn at managing the castle's finances.

The page before this one she recognised as Catelyn's handwriting and comparing the pages suddenly everything seemed off, last month there were fifteen bushels of grain with another ten ordered but according to the page written by Lyanna there were thirty bushels of grain left, where did the other five come from?

Not to mention Lyanna's writing was terrible, letters were spilling over into over columns and quite a few words were misspelt, almost all of them.

"Lyanna, could I just ask? What is ten plus fifteen?" Elia asked as a thought came to her that could explain what was wrong.

"It's thirty isn't it?" Lyanna said and her voice held a tint of what sounded like nervousness in her voice and that just gave more evidence to Elia's theory.

"No, it's twenty-five." Elia said with a sigh as she closed the book. "Lyanna, please don't be offended when I ask you this because I do have to ask, do you know how to do maths, adding? subtraction? multiplication?"

"No." Lyanna admitted as she sat back up. "Mother died before she could teach me and since I was a girl I could attended lessons with the maester and Old Nan is lovely but she is useless unless it comes to stories about others and ice spiders or making pies."

"What about writing? Reading?" Elia asked gently, she didn't want to make Lyanna uncomfortable but she did need to know.

"I can read my name and write it but that's it, when father gave me the ledger I just decided to copy what was put in last as best I could." Lyanna admitted with a shrug. "I knew it would be close enough."

"And your father and brothers don't know?" Elia asked.

"No, and there not going too!" Lyanna shouted and for the first time since she had come into her chambers Elia saw a shadow of the girl that Lyanna had been when Elia had first arrived. "I'd never live it down, I'm already enough of a disappointment to my father as it is."

"I won't tell them anything, I promise you." And Elia meant it, she wasn't going to betray Lyanna's trust over something like this. "But, if you would like I would be willing to teach you."

"I don't need your pity." Lyanna said as she crossed her arms and looked away from Elia.

"It isn't pity, I want to help you that's all." Elia said as she placed her hand on Lyanna's shoulder. "Listen, we are sisters now. I admit I don't know much about having a sister, the closest I have had to one is Ashara and I did not see her all the time. But I would very much enjoy being your sister I think, please? Let me teach you to read and write and help you with your maths, you'll find you'll need them."

Lyanna looked back at Elia and sighed heavily. "You must think that I'm thick."

"Now listen to me, I've met people who couldn't read or write a word and still be some of the smartest people I know and people who could write a book who are thick as shit. You aren't stupid Lyanna, you simply have not been taught and that is a very big difference." Elia said firmly before she held out her hand. "Now, what do you say?"

Lyanna stared down at Elia's hand for a long moment and Elia thought that she definitely was going to refuse her, and that was why she couldn't keep the smile of her face when Lyanna took her hand and shook it.

This was the start of something good, she could feel it.

End of Chapter Fifteen

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 **So, first of all Lyanna being illiterate and not being able to read or do maths comes from that normally it would be up to the woman of the house to handle any and all female children's education and given that Lyanna's mother died when she was very young and there was no septa and the only other woman was Old Nan it always seemed to me that Lya's education would fall to the side.**

 **Now, there have been some questions as to wither or not I hate Lya, I'll answer now that I don't but that doesn't mean I think that she is a perfect human being, none of us are and we all have our flaws. Most of Lyanna's do come from her desire to be free to make he own choices which is perfectly natural but it doesn't change the fact that she still makes mistakes.**

 **If you enjoyed this chapter, then please leave a review, a favourite and a follow and thanks to those that all ready have.**

 **Doctorwhofan12345**


	16. Chapter 16

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Sixteen

Ashara hummed softly as she gently brushed her fingers through Swift Ash's coat as she waited Hodor to arrived with what she needed to clean his coat, ordinarily Elia would look after him but the Maester wanted her to have a few more days in bed even though it was clear that worst of it had passed.

Elia took care of her horse herself and didn't trust anyone else to do it but since she was confined to bed rest she had no choice but to leave it someone else and the only person she would even consider trusting her precious horse to was Ashara and while Ashara was honoured cause she knew how much Swift Ash meant to her she didn't particularly want to do it, this was a stable boys work.

Thankfully cleaning the horse's feet had been a job that Elia had left to the stable boys though under her supervision and Ashara was glad of that, she didn't want to hurt the horse and if she did then she knew that Elia would never forgive her.

Still, she had never been able to tell her friend no so here she was. Gods help her.

She smiled when Hodor came in with a large bucket of water in his hands and a grooming brush under his arms. "Hodor." He said happily as he placed the bucket down on the ground and placed the brush next to it and took out a clean sponge out of his pocket and placed it down next to the bucket as well. "Hodor." He repeated.

"Thank you Hodor, I think I can take it from here." Ashara said giving the gentle giant a warm smile, Hodor was a sweet man and while he may've been simple that did not mean that he was stupid.

"Hodor." Hodor said with a blush before he left the stable, hodoring as he went.

Ashara knelt down and picked up the brush and began to gently brush the horse's hair. "Aren't you a handsome boy? Elia has missed you a great deal and I know she can not wait to go for ride with you."

The horse softly neighed and Ashara couldn't help but wonder, not for the first time, if Swift Ash could actually understand her. Elia always seemed to believe that he could understand people but she wasn't too sure herself.

She spent the next hour gently brushing the horse's coat and when that was done used the old sponge to gently clean his horse and coat, once that was done she placed a bucket of oats before him and gently stroked his face. "There you go, good boy."

She smiled as the horse gently rubbed his face against her hand and then bent his head to eat the oats, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the stallion, he was a horse that had been bread for running through the sands of Dorne and dealing with the intense heat not the freezing cold of the north.

Ashara sighed and decided to leave the stables, she could tell Hodor to come back to pick up the buckets and brush.

Ashara stepped out of Swift Ash's pen and made her way to the door of the stables but a voice called out to her which made her stop before she could open it.

She turned her head and saw Brandon Stark standing in the shadows near the back of the stables, a half-eaten apple in his and an arrogant smirk on his handsome face. "Such a great friend your princess is." Brandon said before he took a massive bite out of the apple and dropped the core down to the hay covered floor. "Making you do a servant's work."

"I am not doing a servant's work, I am performing a favour for my friend." Ashara said as she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, he knew nothing. "If you will please excuse me Lord Brandon." She tried to leave again but she couldn't even turned around before Brandon laughed.

"Lord Brandon? So, we are back to formal titles are we Ash?" Brandon shook his head and stepped closer.

"We never stopped using them and please do not call me Ash, only my friends can call me that." Ashara said as she stepped back.

"And we aren't friends?" Brandon asked with wide eyes as he placed his hand over his chest. "You wound me, Lady Ashara, truly you are so very cruel." He said mockingly.

"We aren't friends, we were never friends. I know what the rest of the kingdoms say about us Dornish but I do not do what we did with friends." Ashara said as she felt her temper build at Brandon's mocking. "And now we are done talking." She said as she turned on her feet and made her way to the door that lead out of the stables but before she could open it Brandon spoke again and what he said made her blood run cold.

"Lauryn, she's mine isn't she?" Brandon asked and for the first time since he had come into the stable he didn't look arrogant, he looked almost sad. "Why didn't you send word? Did you honestly think I wouldn't have come."

"Don't. Just don't." Ashara said with a shake of her head. "You didn't exactly profess your undying love for me, you are a handsome man and I am a beautiful woman and we had sex, that is it. Lauryn changes nothing, she was an unexpected result. You have no claim to her."

"Other than the fact that I am her father, I have a right to her just as much as you do if not more." Brandon said with a growl as he stepped closer to her, his blue eyes, hard as diamonds, looked on to her violet ones. "You should've told me."

Ashara couldn't help herself, she took a step towards the wild wolf, her wild wolf and brushed her hand over one of his muscular arms, shivering as she remembered how those arms felt holding her, laying naked against his chest on the floor with the light of fireplace shining on them. "Can you blame me? You've something of a reputation as a wild wolf, Barbary Dustin, half a dozen other girls? Why would I be different? You should count yourself lucky you haven't a dozen children already."

Brandon reached out and cupped her face and tilted her head up, making her eyes met his. "The difference is you've had my child and I want you, you could be happy with me and I with you."

There lips were only inches apart and the distance was closing, before they could connect Ashara held up her hands and pressed them against his chest. "We can't, you're going to be married. Your future wife is my friend, I can't. Not to mention your father, he would kill you."

Brandon growled and pulled her even closer. "Fuck my father, I don't want to get married and he knows that and Lady Catelyn can fuck herself as well, I don't care about her."

Ashara slapped Brandon across the face so hard that it actually forced him to let go of her as he staggered back, he held his hand to his red stinging cheek and looked at her with disbelief. "What the hell was that for!?" He screamed.

"You might not care about her but I do! You son of a bitch!" She shouted, her violet eyes glowing like fire. "She is to be your wife, do you not care for her at all? You utter bastard, do you know the day Elia fainted she came to me and Elia and cried about how she thought you didn't like her? It breaks my heart to see that she is right and I can clearly see where your sister gets it."

"Do not talk about my sister!" Brandon shouted.

"I'll talk about her as I like! She's a bitch! And now I know where she get's it, thank the gods that Ned and Benjen have managed to become good people!" Ashara shouted as she stormed back over to the stable door and pulled it open, turning her head back to look at Brandon who was fuming. "You have no claim to my daughter and you never will, try anything and you will regret it!"

And with that Ashara stormed out of the stable with tears running down her cheeks, as they froze against her cheeks she tried to convince herself that they were tears of anger.

* * *

Elia hummed happily as she laid out her dress on the bed, she had been looking forward to this dinner all day. It wasn't an important dinner in any real way but it was important to her because now she was finally done with being confined to her room and could finally have meals with the rest of the family and her husband.

It got lonely as she since she had been sentenced to bedrest she had most of her meals on her own, sometimes her husband ate with her as did Ashara but most of the time she ate on her own more on her own insistence as she didn't want Ned or her friend to think they were bound to spend all their time with her.

Speaking of Ashara she hoped that everything was going well in the stables, Swift Ash was used to her taking care of him and while he knew who Ashara was he could be a little temperamental. More than that however she really hoped that Ashara didn't mind doing it, she really hoped that her friend didn't think that she was talking advantage of her, she only wanted Ash to do it because she knew how much her horse meant to her.

"What do you think little one?" Elia asked as she picked Lauryn up from the chair that she had set her in and carried her back over to the bed. "Do you like the dress?"

"I like it. Beautiful." Lauryn said with a giggle and Elia smiled as she pressed a kiss to the side of her head, Lauryn seemed to grow more and more with each day that passed, it was hard to believe that she was the same baby that she ridden all the way to Starfall to see when Ashara's letter had arrived.

"I shall have one made for you little darling." Elia said with a smile. "You shall be a great beauty when you are older, just like your mother."

Lauryn didn't seem all to bother by that as she kicked her legs, clearly wanting to run around.

Just as Elia was about to put her down the door to the room burst open and Ashara stormed in, she stormed over to her friend and quickly snatched her daughter from her hands and pressed kisses to the top of her head as tears rolled down her slightly red cheeks.

To say that Elia was concerned was an understatement, in all the years that she had known Ashara she had never seen her like this, she had seen her upset before of course but never quite like this. "Ashara? What is wrong? What's happened?"

Ashara didn't answer, simply kept holding her daughter close to her chest and letting her tears roll down and fall into her child's dark hair. "Mama?" The little girl asked, her voice filled with worry and Elia knew that if this wasn't dealt with soon then they would have a crying fit on there hands and that was not going to help anyone.

"Ash, please tell me what's wrong." Elia said as she stepped closer to her friend and gently rubbed her back, how had she found herself comforting every single woman in the castle?

Ashara took in a shuddering breath and looked up at her friend. "Brandon was in the stables, I think he'd been waiting for me."

Suddenly a horrible mental picture entered Elia's mind as what she said hit her. "Ash, he didn't..." She couldn't finish saying it, it was too horrible to even consider.

But if Brandon Stark had done what she thought that he had done, then he was dead. Elia would accept no other outcome.

Ashara stared at Elia uncomprehendingly for a moment before what she meant occurred to her and she shook her head rapidly. "No! He's an arse but he isn't a monster, that isn't why I'm upset."

"Then what is it?" Elia asked.

Ashara sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down and adjusting Lauryn into a more comfortable postion before she patted the spot next to her, Elia walked over and sat down in the spot and took one of Ashara's hands, liking there fingers together and offering her comfort as she waited for her friend to speak.

"He knows." And that was all that Ashara needed to say for Elia to understand, there was only one thing that Brandon could know that would make Ashara this upset.

"Has he threatened you? Lauryn?" She asked as she gently stroked the little girl's hair and thanked the gods that while she was smart enough to understand that her mother was upset about something and didn't understand why someone might want to hurt her, if Brandon had threatened her and he told Lord Rickard...

Thankfully she was spared from her thoughts from going down that unpleasant direction when Ashara spoke. "No, he didn't threaten her but he tried to exercise some claim on her and, I suppose by extension, me. He said that he did not care about Cat and didn't want to marry her but that wasn't what really made me angry."

"Then what did make you angry?" Elia asked.

"What he did not say." Ashara admitted. "He did not say that he loved me, he said that he did not want to marry her. And then I realised that he simply wanted me because he thinks, because I am Dornish I wouldn't mind if he strayed from my bed. The arrogant-" Ashara clearly wanted to finish the sentence by biting her tongue for the sake of her daughter. "But even that was not the worst thing."

Elia didn't say anything, this all had to come from Ashara.

"I love him Elia, gods help me but I do. I wanted to say yes." Ashara admitted as tears rolled down hers, she only just managed to get the confession out before she broke out into harsh sobs, Lauryn following her into tears.

Elia sighed and pulled them both close to her, doing what she could to comfort them both.

She would need to talk to Ned about this and he would need to speak to his brother, but that could wait till later.

For now, she simply held her friend and her child and hummed to them both, waiting for their sobs to die.

End of Chapter Sixteen

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	17. Chapter 17

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Seventeen

Ned hummed as he made his way to the small dining hall where the family had their meals when they weren't entertaining the other houses of the north, he couldn't help but feel happy at the moment as Elia had told him a few days ago that Lyanna had come to apologise to her and now they seemed to be spending a lot more time together.

It warmed his heart to see that his wife and his little sister were actually getting along, he was afraid that Lyanna would never warm up to her and he had been afraid that when she had managed to beat Lyanna in a sword fight that she would wind up resenting Elia but if anything the opposite had happened. Lyanna seemed to respect her more.

He then realised that he hadn't told Lyanna that he had forgiven her yet and he would do so at dinner tonight,

When he arrived in the small hall he saw that neither his father or any of his siblings had arrived yet but his wife and her friend were there and the table was already set with food, he smiled gently and walked over to her and gently kissed her, "Hello my Lady."

"Hello Ned." Elia said with a smile of her own and pecked his lips again, she looked beautiful in a red dress with gold lining around the trim and had no sleeves, mind you to Ned she would look beautiful dressed in a potoato sack. "Have you missed me?" She asked gently, almost teasingly.

Ned smiled slightly, he saw Elia every day and she knew that but despite what was clearly teasing on her past he couldn't help but silently admit that during the few hours or so that he had been away from her that he had indeed missed her, was that a good sign or a bad one? To be honest he didn't know and he didn't care. He loved his wife, he felt no shame or concern in that.

"Oh, greatly. Every second away was an agony." He said with a teasing smile as he kissed her again, her loveliness did sometimes take his breath from her.

"How are you Lady Ashara?" He asked the other woman, Ned was not blind to the other's beauty. Most men would agree that she was far lovelier than Elia but he did not find that to be so in his case, his lady wife seemed to be the most beautiful woman in all the world.

Ashara did seem to be a little upset about something, his violet her which were normally bright and happy seemed duller than normal and she seemed to be more subdued than normal, her head was bent slightly and she seemed to have been studying her feet most intensely.

"I am find Lord Eddard, thank you for asking." Ashara said, glancing up to look at him and gave him a comforting smile but it seemed more than a little forced and he couldn't help but wonder what was wrong but he would not force the matter if Lady Ashara did not wish to speak of it.

Ned turned his head back to his wife when he felt her hand cup his cheek, her dark eyes were burning with something that he didn't like though he could not put a name to it. She spoke softly, at least in terms of volume if not tone. "I shall not spoil this dinner as it is the first that I've been able to attend in what has been far too long but once we retire I must speak with you."

Ned couldn't help the heavy frown from appearing on his face, before he could ask any questions as to what exactly was wrong the door to the hall opened and his father and younger siblings walked in. This would have to wait until later.

After a few words spoken the family sit down the table and Ned looked towards the head of the table where his father was naturally sitting. "Where is Brandon?" He asked and he noticed that Ashara seemed to shiver as he asked.

"He is taking care of something for me, he will be here shortly." His father answered as he picked up the picture of wine and filled his goblet and Ned had to admit he was more than a little surprised as Brandon normally didn't much of any work unless he absolutely had to which probably meant that their father had ordered him to do it. "Apparently he got into some sort of fight, like a fool and he won't tell me who with." He commented as he took a sip of his wine.

The pitcher of wine was passed around the table and everyone's cup was filled but Benjen and Lyanna would only be allowed one cup each as their father thought they were still too young to have more than that.

No one said anything as Ashara finished her cup in less than a minute and filled it up again.

As soon as she placed the pitcher down the door opened once again and Brandon stepped into the room, Ned noticed the large red mark on his brother's face as soon as he stepped in but by this point he knew better than to say anything about it when Brandon was in a mood and he was clearly in a mood.

"I've done as you've asked of me father." Brandon said and it was one of the few times that Ned could remember Brandon speaking to their father so coolly, normally when he was made to do something that he didn't want he would be cracking jokes and mocking him not acting this coldly.

The older Stark boy sat down at the table on of the other side of Lady Ashara as soon as his eyes landed on her they darkened and he reached out for the pitcher which he used to fill his cup and slowly took a sip out of it. "How lovely you look this evening Lady Ashara." He said gruffly before he took another sip.

"Thank you, where is your soon to be lady wife this evening?" Ashara asked as she drank half her cup in one go.

Ned watched as his older brother's face twisted into something quite unpleasant and he began to piece everything together, something had happened between Ashara and Brandon but he still didn't know what. He was aware that his brother had quite a thing for the Dornishwoman and had probably laid with her in the past but he wasn't sure what the problem was?

Had Brandon was another tumble and Lady Ashara had turned him down? It wouldn't surprise him if that was the cause of his brother's bad mood as he was very used to women always wanting to lay with him so if Lady Ashara had turned him down for whatever reason then he would be in a bad mood as Brandon always expected everyone to fawn all over him.

Ned loved his brother but gods he could be an ass.

Their father finally cut through the awkward silence. "Lady Catelyn was not feeling herself so she has gone to rest, speaking of which." He turned his head to Elia. "How are you feeling now Princess, I trust you are well?"

Elia smiled gently nodded. "Yes, thank you goodfather. I think I was slowly losing my mind up there."

"I would just like to apologise to you again for my daughter's attitude." Rickard said as he shot a glance at Lyanna who looked down at her feet while tightening her fingers around her goblet. "Truly I can not put into words how disappointed I am with her, she should have known better."

"To be fair my lord I challenged her to a fight and she did come to apologise to me and I have accepted it, in my mind it is in the past and should be forgotten." Elia said as she smiled warmly but it was clearly aimed at Lyanna and it warmed Ned's heart and made him proud to see Lyanna to return it.

The mood did not last long as his father cut in. "Well, that is very genrous of you and I am very glad to hear that my daughter has had the grace to apologize to you it but that does not make up for it."

"It's not like I wanted her to faint." Lyanna muttered as she took a sip of her wine. "And I did say that I was sorry."

Lord Rickard still looked displeased but he seemed to realise that now was not the time for this fight so he simply grunted. "Now, Brandon I hope that you are being kind to lady Catelyn, it's less than a year now that you will be married."

"Please don't remind me." Brandon muttered as he downed his wine and filled up his cup again. "I'm trying my hardest to forget."

Their father did not looked pleased at his brother and Ned braced himself for the argument that was no doubt coming.

"Brandon. You are going to marry Lady Catelyn, you know that you have no other option. I've asked you to make your peace with this yet you continue to resist, you have a duty to me, to the north and to the family and you will fulfil it." Rickard said firmly as he stared at his eldest son. "Winter is coming."

Brandon laughed, he had always hated the words of their house as to him apparently it meant that they had to sacrifice everything, every shred of joy, to prepare for a winter that none of them might live to see. "Neither gods nor man can compel another man to marry."

For a moment there was silence until it was broken by their father's laughter, it was a bitter, cold harsh thing and Ned couldn't help but shiver as he felt a chill run up his spine.

"Foolish fucking boy." Rickard said as his laugh became nothing more than a chuckle as he got to his feet, bringing himself to his full height and Brandon couldn't hold back a gulp as he stared up at his father who made him look like a dwarf.

Ned knew that this was very, very bad. He glanced at his wife when he felt her hand grabbing his and linking their fingers together and gave her hand a squeeze to try and give her some comfort and was grateful when she squeezed back.

Benjen looked up at their father, paled and wide eyed. He had never truly seen their father truly angry before and Ned couldn't help but feel sorry for him, he remember the first time he had seen his father this angry and it had not been a pleasant experience, Lyanna had just been born and a minor lord from a minor house that bordered the neck had insulted their mother during a feast to celebrate Lyanna's birth.

He might not have loved their mother like a husband should love his wife but it had still taken half the lords in the hall at the time to hold him back from beating that man to death, that specific house if he remember correctly had not attended a feast of theirs since then and that was probably for the best as their father had a long memory.

Speaking of Lyanna she was the only one aside from Brandon who looking at their father with their head held and unlike him she showed no outward signs of fear and to be honest that did not surprise Ned much, whatever his sister's faults she had always been the bravest of them.

"Do you think you would be the first man to marry a woman that he did not wish too? The first Stark man? Well, you aren't." Rickard spoke softly, dangerously making it clear that Brandon was on very thin ice with him. "You aren't and you won't, it is not just the women who are forced to marry. Now, I have been extremely patient with you but I have had more than enough, you are going to marry a beautiful woman and you are going to be the Lord of Winterfell one day, what do you truly have to complain about and I will not hear one more word?"

Before Rickard could sit back down to let his word be final Lyanna got out of her chair and glared at her father. "And what about me father? Do I have not the right to complain, you know the man I am marrying."

"Lyanna." Rickard warned but his daughter would not heed it.

"You know what Robert is, he has bastards in every kingdom already and he still takes whores to his bed even though he knows that we are going to be wed." Lyanna said, her wolf blood enflaming her anger and making her blind to any possible consequence. "Is that the sort of man you want me married too? Truly?"

"What would you have me do girl? You can not remain unmarried and you can not stay in Winterfell for the rest of you life." Rickard said as he stared his daughter straight in the eyes, his grey eyes like cloudy ice while her daughters looked like grey steel. "I would not marry you if I did not think it were for the best. Robert loves you."

"How is marrying me to that whoring bastard for the best?! I'd rather marry a Frey or a Bolton or gods, I'd take a Lannister!" Lyanna shouted, nearly screamed it. "Are you such a fucking fool!?"

Rickard's face turned slightly red, his grey eyes be slivers and he slammed his hands down on the table so hard that Ned was fairly sure that he heard it splinter. Lyanna jumped back slightly but she did not break her gaze off of her father.

"Do not call me that, I am still your father." Rickard warned in a low voice.

"You're a piss poor one." Lyanna said and there was a sudden intake of breath from around the table. For a moment a look of sadness crossed over Rickard's face but it was only there for a moment

"Lyanna. Stop this now." Ned said as he glanced between his sister and his father, he honestly had no idea what was going to happen next but he was ready to get out his chair and act if he had to, glancing towards his brother he could see that he was ready too as well.

"I won't and I will not marry Robert father, I will not!" She shouted as she slammed her hands down on to table as well. "If you try and make me then I will throw myself of the top of the broken tower, I mean it!"

"Are you so ungrateful!" Rickard shouted, his face bright red now and he spoke without taking a breath. "I've done everything for you! I allowed you to learn how to fight without complaining once and now when I ask you to simply do your duty you refuse? What I have done wrong Lyanna, what have I-" He suddenly stopped talking.

"Father?" Ned asked he slowly got to his feet, his father looked terrible. His skin was bright red and he was sweating heavily, his lips were pressed together and his eyes were in slits and he was breathing harshly. "What's wrong?"

Rickard couldn't say anything, he fell to the floor with a crash that seemed to shake the world itself.

Her father who had always been on the most alive men that Ned had ever seen in his entire life, he used to think that the gods would have to return to the world and kill him for his father to actually die but at that moment, as his father lay still on the floor, he saw the truth. His father was just a man like the rest of them, and gods that terrified him.

"Father!" Lyanna shouted in panic as she stared down at her father as everyone else got to their feet.

Elia ran over to the fallen man and quickly knelt down next to him, her husband quickly following after her. She gently lifted his head and rested it in her lap, frowning heavily as he saw that he was unconscious. She looked up and spoke quickly. "Ashara, go and find the maester. Now!"

"Benjen go with her." Ned spoke firmly and his brother did not protest, leaving the room with Ashara.

"Could someone please find me a cool rag?" Elia asked and Brandon nodded before leaving the room, he came back after a few minuite's that passed in a tense silence with a rag clutched in his hands with a pale-faced servant trailing behind him carrying a bucket of water. The servant placed the bucket of water down next to Elia and Ned and Brandon passed the rag to Elia.

Elia dunked the rag into the water and squeezed it go rid of the excess as she gently pressed the rag to Rickard's forehead, he moaned and wheezed and tried to shift. "Hush goodfather, everything is going to be fine. I promise." She gently soothed as dunked the rag again.

"What happened?" Lyanna whispered as she stared down at her father, her eyes were filled with confusion and fear.

"I'm not sure, we'll have to wait for the Maester." Elia said as she chewed her bottom lip, she wasn't sure what happened but she knew that it wasn't good.

Ashara and Benjen returned with the Maester after another minute and he sighed heavily as he saw his lord lying on the floor, he walked over and knelt down next to it. "What happened?" He asked, his old voice creaky.

"It's my fault we were arguing and he just started to turn red and sweat." Lyanna said weakly as she took a step forward and Ned didn't think he had ever seen his sister so upset in his life.

"It wasn't all her fault, I was arguing with him first." Brandon said as he stepped forward and threw his arm over Lyanna's shoulders and that didn't surprise Ned, he had always been Lyanna's protector.

"I must ask that someone help's me carry him to his room." The maester said and Ned, Brandon and the servant who carried in the bucket all volunteered to do it.

It was a difficult task to say the least, their father was a massive man and there was only the three of them and he was a dead weight but still they manged to carry him through the stone halls, many other servants coming to their aid when they saw their fallen lord.

And as he carried his father through the stone passageways of Winterfell, Eddard Stark found no shame in admitting that he was very afraid.

* * *

Lyanna sighed and nervously pulled at her hair to try and give her hands something do while she waited, the chair outside her father's bedchambers was uncomfortable but she didn't want to ask the servants to fetch her a more comfortable one, to be honest comfort was the farthest thing from her mind at the moment.

Her stomach felt like it was filled with beetles, an endless number of squirming things turning her stomach and eating it from the inside. Gods, how did this happen?

How many times had she prayed to the gods for the others to take her father? How many times had she prayed for a way out of this marriage? How many horrible things had she said to her father? How many times had she called him cruel or unfair or evil?

If he died now...

Lyanna loved her father, she loved him a great deal. When she was little he used to swing her up into his arms like she was as light as a feather he could probably still do it now considering how strong her father was and how light she was.

He was the one who taught her how to ride, along with Brandon. He watched with a smile as she had learned to wield a sword and he laughed while her mother fretted over another one of her dresses that had gotten dirty and torn from playing hide and seek with Brandon or wrestling with Ben.

If her father died now than her heart would shatter into a thousand pieces, like an icicle falling to the hard ground below.

Her brothers did not seem to be taking it much better than she was, Brandon was pacing back and forth and muttering something under his breath though she could not make out what he was saying. His left hand was purple, bruised and swollen from when a few moments ago he had hit the stone wall in his frustration.

Eddard was sitting in another chair and was sitting next to his wife and was holding her hand tightly and the two of them were speaking in hushed whispers. Gods, if he didn't already hate her then he surely did now.

Benjen was curled up in his chair and his eyes were shut but Lyanna could tell that he was not sleeping, how could any of them sleep at the moment?

Ashara had gone to inform Lady Catelyn and to make sure that she was well.

It was another two hours before the Maester finally came out of the room, the man had already been old but he looked like over the few hours that he had been treating his lord he had aged an another half a decade. "He lives." He said with a tired sigh.

Lyanna nearly sobbed with relief but she managed to keep control but only just.

"What happened Maester?" Eddard asked as he stood out of his chair.

"The blood which flowed to the Lord's heart was disrupted, it caused a...heart attack." The maester said and allowed that to sink in.

"What caused it?" Benjen asked from his chair, his voice quiet and unsure.

The maester looked unsure of himself for a moment before he spoke. "There are many possible causes for such an event, diet is sometimes a factor but in this case...stress I think is the main cause. As lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North he is under a great deal of stress and Lord Brandon and Lady Lyanna, please forgive me for saying this but I am afraid that I must. You two are not helping."

That did it. Lyanna began to sob harshly into her hands, she was vaguely aware that it did not sound even remotely like a human crying but rather like a dying animal but at the moment she could find it in herself to care.

She vaguely heard Brandon yelling at the maester and Ned telling him to sit down and what sounded like Ned restraining Brandon and the maester trying to calm him down.

"May I see him?" Lyanna asked as she looked up at the maester, her red eyes her dark hair hanging limply around her face.

"He needs to rest, my Lady." The maester tried to let her down as gently as possible but Lyanna had to see him.

"Please Maester, I swear that by all the gods that I will not bother him but I must see him. Please." Lyanna was few moments away from getting down on her knees and begging.

"Very well but he must rest so it can not be a long visit and I must ask that the rest of you wait until morn to see him." The maester said with a tone that made it clear that he would not tolerate any arguments.

Everyone one nodded and Brandon stormed off, Ned glanced at Elia and whispered something to her before he followed his brother and Elia sighed before going in the opposite direction.

Just as Lyanna was about to go into the room Benjen grabbed her hand. "Tell him I love him." He said quietly and left as soon as he saw her nod.

Lyanna took a deep breath and followed the maester inside the chambers, the only light came from a candle that was burning on her father's bedside table and the maester nodded before leaving the room and closing the door.

Lyanna stepped closer to the bed and what she saw nearly made her break out into sobs once again Lyanna had ever seen was lying still in the bed, so still that if the maester had not just assured her that he was still alive then she would think that he had left this world already.

He was as pale as the snow and he seemed a great deal smaller somehow, Lyanna sat down in the chair that was placed next to the bed and reached out to take her father's hand. He was cold with one the slightest bit heat and that brought tears to her eyes.

"Lya?" That weak whisper made her Lyanna look up in shook and her eyes widened as she saw her father look at her with half open eyes. "My sweet girl."

"Father, father I am so sorry." Lyanna said as tears rolled down her cheeks and she clutched his hand with both of hers. "I didn't mean for this, I swear that I didn't. I didn't mean anything that I said."

"Hush now, sweet girl I know that you didn't." Her father reached out to stroke her hair and even that slight action which he normally did every other day seemed to take a great deal of energy out of him and that caused even more tears to roll down her face. "You must not blame yourself."

 _"But I already do father, as does your maester."_ Lyanna thought to herself as pressed a kiss to the knuckles of the hand she held. "I am sorry though father, so sorry. And I-" She couldn't continue saying it, it would take all her strength to do so.

"I won't complain about marrying Robert anymore, I swear to you that I won't. I'll do my duty father." Lyanna said quietly and she couldn't bare to look at her father's face while she said it, she would never love Robert most likely she would hate him for all of time but if he took even a little bit of stress off of her father then she would do it.

For him.

"I am so proud of you, my sweet girl." Rickard said and Lyanna had to hold in a sob, she rest her head on her father's chest and closed her eyes as she felt him gently stroke her hair.

She would do this for him.

* * *

"Keep fucking up!" Brandon's slurred voice shouted as Ned had trouble drinking his...sixth? He thought that it was his sixth goblet of wine anyway, he didn't normally drink much anyway outside of feasts and one goblet with dinner so him trying to keep up with Brandon was like a green boy armed with a stick trying to beat Arthur Dayne armed with Dawn.

Still, he would try. He might not normally drink but he was well aware of how well it did for easing pain and right now he had a great a deal of pain to ease. "How do you mange to keep drinking like this?" Ned asked and his voice sounded more slurred than his brother's and he was on his...he wasn't sure but there were at least two empty pitchers of wine in front of him as well as a half full one while Ned only had one picture and it was only just nearly empty.

"A lot of practice." Brandon said with a wild laughter that made Ned's ears ring, gods if he and Robert ever spent any real time together then all the breweries in all of the kingdoms would be empty in a moon or less. "Oh gods, I always told father that he would work himself into an early grave."

"It's not funny Bran." Ned said sternly, did his brother ever take anything seriously? Their father had nearly died!

"Do I look like I am fucking laughing Ned?" Brandon asked as he emptied his current goblet and threw it to the side and grabbed the pitcher's handle and began to drink straight from that. "Did you know that I said that I didn't give a shit about him? Oh, that was just tempting the fucking gods wasn't it?"

"When did you say that?" Ned asked as he took a sip of his wine, he didn't remember him saying that but it had been hard to remember anything over the past couple of hours.

"When I went to speak Lady Ashara in the stables." Brandon said with a hiccup and then sighed heavily as he put the pitcher down. "She's mine Ned."

"Lady Ashara?" Ned asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, her daughter. She's mine." Ned's goblet nearly slipped out of his hands and suddenly everything connected in his mind and everything made perfect, terrible sense.

Ashara's natural born daughter, Lauryn had the Stark look about her. How did none of them notice it? Was it because they simply hadn't wanted to notice it? Regardless, it seemed as through his brother's luck had finally ran out. "Does anyone else know?"

"None of us, but I would be surprised if your wife didn't know." Brandon muttered and Ned had to admit that he would be surprised if Elia did not know as well, most likely that was what she had wanted to talk to him about after the dinner before all this had happened.

As soon as though about his wife her face almost seemed to dance before his eyes for a moment and a smile, a stupid drunken smile appeared on his face and he threw his goblet to the side and got to his feet. Life was far too short for this, to worry about his father or Brandon or Ashara or Lauryn or Lyanna or Catelyn or Benjen. He began to make his way out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Brandon asked as he watched his brother leave.

"I'm going to fuck my wife."

* * *

Elia kneeled in the small circle she had made with the carved figures of the Seven, she had brought them with her from Dorne and while it was not the same as having a sept to pray in it would have to do.

"Father Above, if this is Lord Rickard's time then please judge his justly and take him to the seventh heaven. Gentle Mother, have mercy on him for many people still need him, Warrior give him the strength to overcome, Maiden extend your kindness, Crone light his way to which ever world he belongs, Smith arm him well, Stranger...do not take him yet."

Elia sighed and picked up the carved figures and placed them back in the chest at the foot of her and her husband's bed, as soon as she had put them away there was a loud hammering at the door and Elia got to her feet and pulled the door open and she was surprised to see Ned standing there.

She opened her mouth to ask why he knocked, it was his chambers as well and he did not need to knock but she didn't chance the chance to say anything as Ned stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her pressed their lips together roughly.

His breath stank of wine but that was only truly unpleasant thing about it as the feel of his strong arms holding her tightly to his chest made her feel boneless. "Ned." She whimpered as he broke their lips apart for a moment. "We should talk about-

"My wife, my beautiful wife. My lovely wife." His voice spoke slurred as he kissed her cheek and down her neck while he gently lead her to the bed and gently laid her down before kissing her lips. "Mine."

"Ned, we need to-Ah!" Elia's words died in her throat as Ned hitched up her dress up and buried his head in between her thighs and pressed kisses to her clit.

Ned licked in between her pink lips and sucked on them, he slid a finger into her and thrust it in to her with each flick of his tongue, he grunted in approval at her taste and slid another finger into her and sucked harshly on her clit.

Elia came with a loud keen and she didn't see how it was possible that the rest of the castle hadn't heard it, she grabbed Ned's hair gently and tried to pull him off as he kept licking and sucking at her. "Ned!" She whined

"'M thirsty love, I've only had wine today." Ned said as he pulled away from her and the sight of her juices on his lips and cheeks and beard were enough for her to let him be as he dived back between her thighs.

He was buried between her thighs and made her cum another three times her legs were shaking and ached despite the fact that Ned was holding them up. He pulled back and his face was drenched and the sight sent a pleasant ache through her.

Ned quickly ripped off his clothes and laid down on his back and gently grabbed her by her hips and picked her up and adjusted her so she was sitting over his cock, he gently guided her down and Elia moaned as it filled her.

For the next few moments the two stayed there, just enjoying the feel of one another before Elia rocked her hips back and forth for a few moments.

She was sensitive, overly so and it didn't take much for her to find completion again and as she shook her proud, honourable lord husband came inside her with a grunt.

Elia collapsed on to his chest and took deep breaths to calm herself, a few drops of something hit her head and she looked up to see her husband with tears running down his cheeks, he opened his mouth to try and say something but all that came out was a little whimper.

So Eila wrapped her arms around him and she wasn't surprised when Ned wrapped his arms around her and began to sob into her neck.

Elia stroked his back and hushed him until he feel asleep and she followed after him, taking comfort and the strength in his closeness. It was going to be hard, she knew that but she knew that everything was going to fine. She had to hope that anyway for what other choice did she have?

After a few more moments she close her eyes and let her Lord Husband's heartbeat lull her back to sleep.

End of Chapter Seventeen

* * *

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	18. Chapter 18

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Eighteen

Elia sighed heavily as she finished writing the letter to Lord Umber and sealed it before picking up another piece of blank parchment and began to write a letter to Lord Gregor of House Forrester who had only just recently assumed lordship.

Ever since Lord Rickard had suffered his heart attack a week ago the maester had made it clear that his work load must be lightened and while the proud old lord had complained his children had made it clear to him that he needed to rest so in all intents and purposes Brandon, Eddard and Lyanna had taken to running Winterfell with Elia, Catelyn and Ashara helping where they could.

Brandon had mostly been sitting in the Lord's chair and dealing with judgements and the major decisions, he might not enjoy performing the main duties of the lord but he wasn't too bad at doing it.

Ned had taken to overseeing the soldier's of the house as he was the best when it came to leading to men, the master-at-arms had even mentioned that if it was up to him he would have Eddard become the new lord instead of Brandon.

Lyanna had taken to running the household, well to be fair it was more her and Ashara and Catelyn who ran the household while Elia continued to teach Lyanna, she had to admit she was proud of how far the girl had come. She was a quick learner and while she still had a far way to come she was by no means the worst she had ever seen when it came to writing and sums and she was soon able to balance the books without much help needed from them.

Elia also occasionally wrote the letters to the other noble houses when the others were too busy to do so, at the moment she was spreading the word that Lord Rickard was on the way to making a full recovery as she knew if that there were more than a few houses in the North who would take advantage of any apparent weakness.

Her husband had told her that House Bolton had revolted against House Stark in the past so they were an immediate concern and from what she had heard of him Roose Bolton didn't need more than hearing that the lord paramount of the north was ill than to try something.

Speaking of her husband he had been complaining that he still had a headache from his hangover but it was an improvement considering that the day after he come to their bed he had been unable to get out bed and he was still able to take command of the house's forces.

She had to stop and put the quill down on the table as the thought of her grim, cold barbarian husband caused butterflies to flit in her stomach and a small gentle smile to appear on her face.

 _"Gods, you like a girl of ten."_ She mentally chastised herself as she brushed an errant lock of black hair behind her ear but she could not help herself, it was a surprise to no one more than her but she truly did love her husband and she did not care who knew it, she loved him so.

She couldn't help but wonder, would she have loved Rhaegar this much? She could not deny that a small part of why she had found him attractive was the fact that marrying him would make her the queen, she liked to think that didn't really matter all that much to her and for the most part it didn't but still she couldn't deny that a small part of her had yearned to be the queen.

But now she found that she didn't much care for the idea at all, perhaps it was because she knew that if she was going to King's Landing she would have to speak carefully and softly to avoid a dagger being shoved into her back and smoothing over any perceived slights and plot to simply avoid being caught in other's plots.

The northerners were, on the whole if not all of them, not like that. The sheer harshness of the land did not allow for things like plots and schemes to survive, they were blunt and to the point and said what they meant and meant what they said and Elia had to admit that she found it a very refreshing change of pace.

Still, she would not have minded marrying Rhaegar, he had been her dear friend and she knew that he trusted her opinion most marriages were built on far flimsier foundations.

She had to wonder as to how Rhaegar was finding his new betrothed, as soon as the announcement had came that the king had cancelled their betrothal she had long suspected that Cersei Lannister would be her replacement so when the announcement came to Winterfell a few days after she and Ashara had arrive that Cersei Lannister would be marrying Rhaegar she had not been at all surprised.

Cersei had always seemed a little...cold, at least to her. The girl was beautiful there could be no doubt to that, long golden hair with eyes so green they shone liked emeralds and pale skin and full breasts that drew the attention of a great deal of men and quite a few women and she knew to quite a lot of men that would be all that mattered.

Of course that was only what she knew of her as a woman, as girl she had been a monster. The way she had treated her poor baby brother, that sweet little babe...

Perhaps time had made her kinder but she would not hold out hope that this was the case.

The more she thought about it she prayed that Oberyn had not gone to King's Landing to do something to Lady Cersei, he wasn't so stupid as to do something to Rhaegar which is the first thing that she had feared but he might not have considered that do something to Cersei would be just as bad if not worse. The last thing that Dorne or Doran needed was House Lannister going on the warpath.

She supposed that for now she would just have to hope that Oberyn wasn't that foolish.

Perhaps she should write to Doran and ask him to command Oberyn to come back.

With a sigh she picked up her quill and finished the letter she was writing before sealing it and placing it atop the small pile of finished letters, before she could start on a new one however there was a knock on the door and as she gave permission to enter a little boy with messy brown hair and who was missing his two front teeth walked in, a letter clutched in his hands.

"This just came for you milady." The boy said brightly and Elia took the letter with a gentle smile and sent him on his way before she gazed down at the letter.

The letter was sealed with two wax seals, the first was the standard one for House Martell but the other, A red viper ready to strike she recognised as her brother's personal seal. She broke open the Martell seal as that was the one that was holding the letter closed and began to read it's contents.

 _My dearest sister,_

 _How do you fare in the cold, grey wasteland? I trust your husband is treating you well, if he his not then simply send word and I will come and get you, you know that I would._

 _Our dear older brother sent a letter to me that said that he told you that I was in King's Landing, honestly I do not see why so many seem to love this place so much, it smells of shit everywhere you go unless you are in the keep or the great sept._

 _Obara is enjoying it, mainly I think she likes the fact that she throws all these so highborn lords and ladies off, they are used to seeing bastards shoved off to the side and hidden away in the shadows or fostered in a far away keep so seeing a bastard girl acting so brazenly is off putting for them, the fact she uses weapons and dresses as a boy is almost nothing to them compared to that._

 _Nymeria gains something of the same reaction and the girl is constantly getting under the feet of servants, she spends most of her time sparring with Obara and both of them are enamoured with Uncle Lewyn and he's already sought to teaching them true form, as he calls it, in what little spare time he has._

 _Tyene on the other hand is almost like a chameleon in this place, she has adapted perfectly. The people here look at her and they see a sweet young girl, barely more than a babe, quiet and modest. Perhaps it is just me but I think, that when she grows she will be more dangerous than any of them._

 _The lioness has arrived and she's made herself at home, she's beautiful I will give her that much but she a vile harpy beneath it, so little has changed in that regard and certain friends of ours quite close to your beloved silver prince have told me that so far he does not seem quite happy with her._

 _As I write this I can almost see the heavy frown appearing on your delicate face, do not worry yourself sweet sister I shall do nothing foolish, before anything else Elia do not think that I would bring my children here and then do something to endanger them._

 _I think I shall make them feel uncomfortable, I know that my presence make the Prince feel quite awkward and that is honestly the best revenge that I can think off._

 _Did you know that Cersei's brother has come with her to King's Landing? He did not recognise me at sight but that was fair enough as he hadn't seen me since we were both children, needless to say he has grown into a very fine specimen._

 _That might be an even better form of revenge now that I think about it, Cersei stole your crown so perhaps I shall steal her brother?_

 _Regardless, I can here a servant screaming down the corridor and the sounds of very familiar laughter so I should probably go and deal with that._

 _I love you sister and I hope to see you soon, the girls miss you so. Why don't you come and see them, if your husband will let you come of course, if he is suicidal enough to refuse you._

 _Your devoted brother,_

 _Prince Oberyn Martell._

Elia couldn't help but smile after finishing the letter, Oberyn could be a little crude for her tastes sometimes but it had been so long that she had read her younger brother's words that she would willingly over look it, just this once mind. And so long as Oberyn didn't actually do anything to Cersei or Rhaegar then he was fine, like he said he would never risk his children.

She wondered if Ned would be willing to go south with her, she would understand if he didn't want to go of course considering that his father was only just recovering but she missed her family, she could ask at the very least.

Elia put the letter down and decided that after she finished the rest of the letters, she would go and speak with Ned and see what he said.

She began to write the next letter, this one was going to House Mormont but before she could even get half-way through however the door to her room opened and Ned walked in.

Before she could ask what he was doing here he came over and kissed the top of her head and began to kiss down her cheek and then down her neck, he leaned up to whisper in her ear. "I've missed you."

Elia moaned as Ned continued to kiss down her neck, she tilted her head back. "Ned." She whined as she put her hand at the back of his head though she made no effort to pull him away. "I need to finish these."

"Then tell me to stop and I will." Ned said simply before he nipped at her neck gently and slipped his down the front of her dress and gently began to fondle one of her breasts. "I hope that you won't however."

"Ned." Elia breathed as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back.

"I don't know what happened, I was helping Ser Rodrik train the soldiers and suddenly all I could think about was you, you've started to occupy my thoughts my lady, more times than I can count." Ned whispered into her ear as he rubbed her back and played with the strings of her dress. "If this keeps up I won't be able to spend a moment without you and who would blame me?"

Elia opened her eyes and looked at her husband who steadily met her gaze, his face showed little to no emotion like he was wearing a mask but his eyes were blazing with something that lit a fire inside of her. "Ned, I need-"

"Hush now my love." Ned said as he pressed a kiss to her lips and pulled away from her, chuckling slightly as Elia moaned in disappointment and gently slapped his chest. He offered his hand. "Come with me, I want to take you somewhere."

Elia sighed and stood up, adjusting her dress to make herself look presentable and then took her husbands hand and followed him out of the room as he lead her.

He lead through the halls of Winterfell and she realised that he was taking her deeper into the castle then she had ever gone before and they descended several old stone staircases that she had never realised had existed before.

They eventually arrived in a small stone passage was that was almost completely dark aside from a few candles burning in small alcoves. Elia noticed that most of the candles seemed new as if they had only just been recently placed in the alcoves.

She was about to ask Ned where he was taking her but she stopped when she noticed something, something about this part of Winterfell that marked it as different from any other part of the castle.

It was boiling.

The walls had water running down them, like a man sweated and the heat was so overbearing that even Elia found it more than a little uncomfortable so how Ned could bare it she did not know.

The passage way ended with a locked and bolted door, Ned let go of Elia's hand and placed his hand down his shirt to retrieve a small brass key which he used to unlock the door and grabbed the bolt and slid it free, as he did all of this he explained. "I don't normally come down here, normally only Brandon or Lyanna does but...I wanted to treat you, I was not...my best that night."

"Ned, I understand. And you do not have to apologize, to me or to anyone. You were worried about your father and I did not tell you to stop and I know that if I did then you would, you're a good and decent man." Elia said as she stepped forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "And I love you a great deal my lord."

"And I you my Lady." Ned said as he turned his head and pressed his lips to hers before he pulled the door open and kept it held open, gesturing for her to go first.

She stepped through the door and her jaw nearly fell to the floor at what she saw was waiting for her on the other sides.

Candles, there were dozens upon dozens of candles and that was only light as the room beyond was not made of the grey stone of the castle but seemed to be made of more natural rock and beyond the candles she could she what looked like several large pools of water with steam rising from them.

They were in the hot springs. She had been aware of their existence for awhile, one of the first things she had wondered about was how her room had seemed so warm. Winterfell had been built over these springs and a series of pipes carried the water all around the castle, warming it within which meant the cold had never truly been a problem for her or for Ashara.

"I did not realise that you could actually come into the springs. I had imagined that any entrances would've been sealed off centuries ago." Elia said as she gazed off into the distances, the cavern seemed to go on for miles and the candles only went so far. She would hate to be lost down here.

When she heard the sound of something hitting the floor behind she turned and couldn't help but smirk slightly as she saw her husband standing there, utterly naked. It did not matter to her how many times she had seen her husband's naked body it was still a delicious sight.

Every muscle clearly defined, strong arms that could, and had, lift her without a hint of effort. A chest that she laid against more often then her actual pillow which was covered in fine dark hair which lead down to...

Elia whimpered as she felt herself getting wet, her husband chuckled and Elia could've slapped the man, he knew what he did to her.

The candles caused dark shadows to be cast over both of them and the light caught Ned's eyes, causing them to shine like smooth marbles. He walked towards her and gently took her hand and lead her over to one of the pools. "Take off your clothes." He whispered in her ear, his tongue darting out to lick the outside of her ear.

Elia shivered and reached behind her to undo the strings of her dress, thankfully Ned decided to help her which was good because her hands were shaking. The strings were undone in a moment and her dress feel to her feet in a clump which she then stood out of.

Ned smiled and kissed her before stepping into the pool, he stood in the water for a moment with his eyes closed before he let out a sigh of satisfaction. "Come in my love, it will not burn you. You have my word." He said as he held out his and Elia took it with a smile and he helped her in.

As soon as she sank down next to Ned her eyes widen and she let out a whimper, when she felt Ned's eyes widening and saw that he was about to stand up to help her out she held up her hand to stop him. "It's alright, I'm not in pain. Quite the opposite in fact, the pain in my bones is gone. Well, no it's still there but it's never been this mild before."

"Truly?" Ned said with a raised eyebrow before he smiled and settled back down and pulled his wife into his arms and buried his head into her neck. "Well then, we must make coming down here a far more regular occurrence." He muttered between kissed he pressed to her neck.

"Yes. Yes we should." Elia said as she closed her eyes. "I do believe that you are more than a little obsessed with me my lord."

"Obsessed. Addicated. Madly in Love. One of them at least." Ned said as he pulled her into his lap and grinded against her, smirking at every single whimper and choked off moan that he caused. "Is there anything that you would like me to do my lady? All you need to do is ask it of me?"

Elia whimpered as she felt her lord husband's cock rubbed against her, she twisted around so she was facing him and rested her hands against his chest and leaned forward. "I want to look at you while I ride you." She whispered into his ear.

And so that was what she did.

She was unsure how long the two of them stayed down there, the caverns were cut off from the world and she was to busy focusing on her husband to really care but by the time they had finished the candles around the spring were all nearly melted half the way.

Right now she was resting next to Ned with her head on her shoulder and his hand gently stroking her hair. "We really should come down here more often."

"As often as you would like." Ned said as he pressed a short kiss to her forehead.

"I meant to tell you that I received a letter from my brother, my younger brother. Oberyn. He is in King's Landing with his daughters and he asked if we wanted to visit him as he's staying in the Red Keep." Elia explained as she traced a small scar on one of Ned's pecs. "Do you think that we could go? I would like to see my brother and I am sure that Brandon, Lyanna and Catelyn would be able to hold the fort until we get back."

Ned was quiet for a moment as he clearly thought about it and Elia couldn't help but wonder if she was being selfish, her goodfather had only just had a heart attack after all and the road from here to King's Landing was long, she opened her mouth to tell him to forget that she had even brought it up but Ned spoke before her.

"If father gives us leave and Brandon and Lyanna think they can take care of everything while we are gone then, I don't see why we cannot go." Ned said with a smile and that smile widen and Elia laughed and kissed Ned's lips hungrily.

The two of them did not leave the springs until the last few candles threatened to burn out.

End of Chapter Eighteen

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 **As you may have noticed this story has been getting a lot of attention for me so for just a little while I will take a break from it to focus on my other stories.**


	19. Chapter 19

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Nineteen.

Elia knew that she probably looked somewhat like a pig, shovelling food into her mouth in a manner that did not befit a princess or a lady and she knew if that if her mother could see her then she would probably stab her with a fork but at this exact moment in time she did not care, she had not eaten any decent real food in almost a month. And she had been great deal hungry lately, she picked up a large wedge of pork pie and devoured it in four whole bites.

Ned and Elia had set off from Winterfell almost a full moon ago and they had only just passed through the neck, at the moment they were staying in a large inn around a mile away from the border of the neck. The food was the best thing about it, pork pies as large as her head and full to bursting with fine pork, peas, carrots and onions. Honeyed chicken that made her mouth water to just look at it, venison stew with freshly baked bread and mulled wine to wash it all down.

The inn might not actually be in the north but the man who owned it was a burly northerner with a full beard and it was clear that in terms of food he had not forgotten where he had been raised and Elia was thankful for that, she might miss Dorne and it's food, spiced Lamb, honeyed dates, spicy dragon peppers that burned you're mouth and sweet milk with honey but it often left her hungry a few moments later aside from a few dishes.

One thing she had grown to love about the North was how the food filled her so, the northern food filled her perfectly and she had always left dinners with a full stomach and slept easily. Still, even now as she ate alone in the privacy of her room she couldn't help but feel a small deal anxious, she had been eating a great deal more and more lately and there was already a slight weight gain, her face becoming softer and her waist beginning to grow. She had to wonder if Ned was starting to find her repulsive.

She knew it was ridiculous to worry, Ned came to her bed every night and he did not seem unwilling to share her bed with her when there was only the one available and he still kissed her as passionately as ever, still loved her as fiercely as ever but it was hard not think it sometimes despite knowing how silly it truly was.

She wished that Ashara was here to reassure her but she had told her to remain in Winterfell, with Lord Rickard still recovering and Lyanna only just beginning to get the hang of managing a household, they would need all the help they could get and Ashara was needed there plus she did not want to put Laruyn through another hard journey like the one to get to Winterfell.

Still, despite knowing she had made the right choice she still missed her friend a great deal, she would dismiss all of her petty fears and reassure in that way that only Ashara could seem to. Elia sighed and put the large platter of pork pie on to the table that was at the side of the bed and laid down, resting her head on the pillow and closed her eyes, she had been going to bed earlier and earlier lately.

Elia didn't know if she had fallen asleep or not and if she had she didn't know how long she had been asleep before she heard the door open, she looked up and saw her husband walk in, an apologetic smile on his face. "I am sorry my love, I did not mean to wake you." He spoke gently as he slowly sat down on the side of the bed, one of his large hands reaching out to gently brush back a strand of inky black hair.

"It's alright, I was only just about to fall asleep." Elia said with a yawn which she quickly caught with her hand, Ned chucked and pressed a kiss to her head before he laid down next to her and pulled her to his chest, Elia sighed in content and relaxed against his firm chest, it was moments like this that reminded her that she had nothing at all to worry about.

The men who had ridden with them from Winterfell were down in the inn and going by the noise they were drinking and fighting and had girls in their laps who were acting so very interested in their stories, Ned could be down with them right now but he choose to be with her and it didn't surprise her, he was a decent man and even if he didn't love he would stay away from them to simply honour his vows.

The two of them stayed in the bed and their breathing began to even out, soon they were both completely asleep.

A few moments later however Elia shot up in bed and began to gag loudly, Ned's eyes snapped open and he looked at her in alarm before he shot out of the bed and grabbed the empty chamber pot at the foot of the bed and handed it to her. Elia was sick into the pot, gagging and spluttering inbetween the vomiting and Ned rubbed her back gently to try and sooth her, to help her through it. "It's alright Elia, just try and breath." He said quietly.

After a few more moments of retching Elia looked up, her face pale and long. "I think it's stopped." She said weakly and Ned nodded before he took the chamber pot from her and rested it at her feet for now, just in case they had to reach it quickly.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently as he pressed another kiss to her temple.

"I believe so, I think I simply ate too much." Elia said as she rested her head on Ned's shoulder and shut her eyes, her stomach still felt more than a little uneasy but it was starting to settle down.

"I must admit I was more than a little surprised when you asked for a whole pork pie, where do you put it all?" He asked with a grin and it grew wider as he felt Elia gently hit his chest with her palm

"I was hungry, you can't blame it's been days since we had any real food." Elia pointed out.

"The food in the neck wasn't that bad." Ned said as he brushed his fingers through her hair.

"Oh yes, I adored the Snails, frogs, berries that might be poisonous and the tadpoles." As soon as Elia finished reciting the list she began to retch again and Ned snapped up the chamber pot, Elia took some deep breaths as nothing came up and she placed the chamber pot back on the floor. "I enjoyed staying at Greywater Watch and Lord Reed was a charming host but I would not like to dine with them again."

Ned had to admit that he saw her points, the Reeds were loyal bannermen, Lord Reed was a good man and the Neck was a fascinating place with plants that were as tall as him and taller in some cases but the food did leave a good deal to be desired and the fact that Greywater Watch floated did mean that it was hard to keep a hold on your stomach. "We will not stay with them on the way back, I promise."

"I would not wish to be rude, beside Howland would be disappointed if you left without saying hello." Elia said with a smile, the young son of Lord Reed and her husband had formed quite a close bond in the few days they had spent at his home.

"He shall be able to live with it, I will write to him. All that matters to me is that you are comfortable." Ned said as he held her close. "Are you feeling alright now?"

"I believe so, I still feel a little nauseous but I always do lately." As soon as she said that Elia looked up, her eyes widening. "Oh." She breathed.

"Oh, what?" Ned asked in confusion.

"I just realised, I haven't had my moon's blood. Not since we left Winterfell." Elia said, speaking slowly and she almost laughed as she saw Ned's eyes widen and for a moment she honestly thought that they were about to pop out of his sockets. "I know."

"You're...Are you certain?" Ned asked as he gently placed his hand over Elia's still flat stomach, if she was right then it wouldn't stay flat for long.

"Fairly certain, yes. I am almost completely certain in fact." Elia said as she rested her hand over Ned's. "It makes a great deal of sense now that I think about it, it explains a fair few things."

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, just the two of them in the darkness of the room. Their hands resting over her stomach for a long beat before Ned laughed, he cupped her face and kissed her deeply and when he pulled away he pressed a kiss to her stomach. "I never thought, that it was actually possible to be even half this happy."

Elia laughed as happy tears rolled down her face she pressed her lips to his again. "I am extremely happy, more than anyone has ever been I think."

"We shall have to head back to Winterfell in the morning, I will write a letter apologising and explaining to your brother, I am sure when he learns of your condition that he will be understanding." Ned said.

"What? No!" Elia said, she took in a deep breath and began to explain as she saw the look of confusion on his face. "I want to see Oberyn, you see your brothers and sister everyday but I can't. I know you understand how it feels because you spent years away from your siblings as the vale. I am well enough to travel, you know that I am. Please Ned, don't make us turn back."

Ned was silent for a moment before he sighed and nodded, he chucked as Elia threw her arms around his neck and pulled her close. "All right, but you must rest and do as little as possible, understood?"

"Understood." Elia said as she buried her head into Ned's neck.

The two laid back down on their bed and slowly began to drift back to sleep, Ned stroking Elia's stomach until he was too tired to continue.

End of Chapter Nineteen

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 **Please follow, favourite and review. I know this was a short chapter guys but the next one should be a lot longer. Also I knew that Ned and the other Starks don't meet Howland Reed until the Tourney at Harrenhal but given that Ned was going south and obviously had to pass through the neck I decided to make their meeting earlier than in canon.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	20. Chapter 20

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty.

Oberyn spun his spear and thrust it down at the small dark shape at his feet, said dark shape blocked the blow and leapt back before thrusting her spear towards his gut, if Oberyn had been anyone else then he wouldn't have been able to dodge the blow and he would probably have wound up being gutted on the point, this was just a sparring match but Oberyn had told his daughter to not hold back, in real life no one would even if she was a woman.

But he had also taught her to use that, even in Dorne men would underestimate her because she was a woman and if no one truly perceived you as a threat then they would never see you coming. He swung the handle of his spear towards her feet and knocked her flat on to her back. Oberyn pointed his spear down at her. "I thought you better than that Obara, you need to be quicker on your feet."

"Yes father." Obara said and Oberyn stepped back and Obara got back to her feet, she twirled her spear in her hands and lunged for Oberyn who side-stepped but before he could retaliate Obara stuck out her leg and Oberyn stumbled, she jabbed the other end of her spear into her father's gut who grunted and fell to the floor he looked up just in time to see the point of his daughter's spear hovering in front of his face. "I only ever need one lesson father.

"Perhaps." Oberyn said with a shrug and used his hand to nudge the spear's point away from his face, as soon as Obara pulled the spear back however he quickly drew a dagger and shoved his eldest down to the floor and held the knife to her throat. "What is the lesson?" He asked.

"That you will cheat when we spar?" Obara mocked with a raised eyebrow.

"My dear daughter, is it truly wise to mock a man who holds a knife to your throat?" Oberyn asked with an raised eyebrow of his own, he made sure that he held the knife so that the blade was in no danger of actually cutting into her throat. "I shall ask you again, what is the lesson here?"

"Be wary of someone hiding an extra weapon?" Obara suggested.

"No." Oberyn said. "Try again, what is the lesson?"

"The lesson is...never assume that you are out of danger." Obara said and she breathed in relief when her father nodded and stood up, holding out a hand to help her up. She took it and grunted as she was pulled up to her feet.

"Well done, you are getting much better." Oberyn said and he could not hide the pride in his voice, he loved all of his daughters the same of course but Obara was the one that he had trained, he planned to train to train all of them of course but Obara had a taste for it and the skill to support it, to be honest she reminded him much of himself when he had been her age.

"Thank you father." Obara said as she twirled the spear in-between her fingers. "I wondered if we could train with the whip tomorrow, I need more practice with it."

Before Oberyn could respond the door to the room burst open and a small shape darted forward, her long braid flying behind her. The shape wrapped it's arms around Oberyn's legs and looked up at his face, a small smile on her face showing off a gape in her teeth. "Hello papa." She said sweetly.

"Hello Nym." Oberyn returned the smile and reached down to pick her up, Nymeria squealing in delight as she was hoisted up and rested against her father's shoulder. "Have you had a nice time with Septa Constance, where is she by the way?"

No sooner than when he asked did the woman, looking noticeably more dishevelled than usual with little Tyene held in her arms, squirming to try and escape her hold so she could join her sisters. "Prince Oberyn." The woman breathed harshly, her grey eyes burning like coals. "I am sorry but your daughters are little beasts, they refuse to be still and I have never seen such violent or noisy girls in my entire life."

Oberyn was honestly trying his hardest not to laugh at the poor woman, she was only doing her duties but she had condemned herself to an uphill battle when she had tried to tame any of his daughters, even sweet little Tyene had a fire burning inside of her that would not be smothered. Oberyn cleared his throat to cover up his laugh and placed a firm look on his face. "I apologise for them Septa, please take the rest of the day to rest and I will ensure they are disciplined."

The septa nodded, a pleased look on her face. She set Tyene down on the floor and left the room, shutting the door behind her as she left. Oberyn reached down and picked Tyene up and when she brought up to rest against his other shoulder Nymeria took her sister's hand. "I don't like the septa, she's mean and smells funny."

"She's mean." Tyene muttered in her father's chest as she squeezed her sister's hand.

"And stupid and fat." Obara muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest, the girl had not been forced to attend any of the septa's lessons but that had been a conscious decision on Oberyn's part, Obara did not have the same amount of patience as her younger sisters and if the septa could not handle them then she had no chance of handling Obara.

"Obara. I know you don't like her but you will not speak ill of Septa Constance, she's a good woman and she is only trying to help. The same goes for you two, do not be rude to her or about her." Oberyn spoke firmly as he addressed his daughters, Tyene and Nymeria both nodded immediately and while Obara let out a longsuffering sigh she did nod as well, not willing to disobey her father.

Oberyn placed Nym and Tyene down on the room's bed and glanced at Obara who sighed again and walked over to the bed and hopped up on to it so she was in the middle of her sisters. "Now, I do believe that your Aunt will be arriving today. She will have missed all three of you you a great deal. You three will be spending most of the day with her."

Nymeria and Tyene both seemed excited, in Dorne they had both spent a great deal of time with their aunt and they had both missed her greatly and Oberyn was glad of that. Obara on the other hand did not seem quite as gladdened, she loved her aunt and Oberyn had no doubts about that but she knew that she didn't have much in common with her.

Elia was a sweet and gentle soul, when their mother had order them all be trained so they could defend themselves if they had to Elia had not wanted to, she did not want to fight and thus her training had not been complete. It was a shame as she had been quite skilled with a sword, if she had wanted to fight and carried on with her training then she would've been nearly unbeatable.

"What will you be doing father?" Obara asked her father when she realised that he said that they, meaning her and sisters would be spending time with their aunt. "Haven't you missed as well."

"Of course I have." Oberyn said and he meant it, Elia and he had always been closer as Doran had been sent away to squire by the time he was born and he did not return until he had turned six and by then Doran was a man grown while he and Elia were still children. They only really had one another most of the time and even when Elia began to make friends of her own she still kept him closer.

There was never a time that he hadn't been close to his sister but now she was thousands of miles away and he missed her like would miss his arm if it was removed and he would normally want to spend a great deal of time with her and he would but he had to do something first.

He had to make sure that Eddard Stark was actually good enough for his sister, the two of them would have a nice somewhat private chat while Elia reconnected with her nieces. "I have a few things to take care of Obara, I will spend time with her later on tonight or tomorrow. She will be here for a few weeks or so after all."

Obara nodded, her curiosity sated it seemed and there was suddenly a knock at the door. "Come in." Oberyn spoke and a young man who was dressed in the colours of House Stark and going by his broad shoulders and gruff face, as well as the fact that he was sweating like a pig in the warm heat, was clearly a northerner.

"Please forgive the interruption Prince Oberyn, but Princess Elia and Lord Stark have arrived in the Red Keep and are settling into their rooms. Princess Elia asked me to inform you that she was here and that she would like to see you as soon as possible." The man spoke, his loud voice echoing around the chambers.

Oberyn nodded. "Thank you, please return to my sister and tell her I will be there in just a moment." The north man nodded once and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Oberyn looked down at his daughters. "Are you ready to go?" He asked.

All three girls nodded and as Obara and Nym jumped off of the bed he picked up Nym, she had started to walk but she was still a little unsteady on her feet and he did not want her to fall and hurt herself, he lead his two elder daughters out of the room and they began to walk down the long corridors of the Red Keep.

After a fairly long walk that took them deeper in to the guest apartments, a small area near the maiden vault where noble guests stayed, they arrived in front of an oak door banded with black iron, standing in front of the door were two of the Stark's household guards, they bowed their heads as they approached and Oberyn knocked on the door. "My lord, Prince Oberyn and his children have arrived!"

"Send them in!" An unfamiliar voice called from the other side of the door and it could only belong to his good-brother, one of the guards opened the door and Oberyn stepped in with his daughters following him.

The first thing he noticed was that his good-brother was sweating and he couldn't stop the small half a smirk from forming on his face, these north men really couldn't handle a little bit of heat, if they were in Dorne then he would probably sweating enough to fill several buckets and be panting as well. His eyes soon strayed from Eddard Stark however and landed on his sister.

She looked...well, happy and healthy and amused at how her husband was reacting to the heat but he also saw the concern and the love in her eyes for the man and he did not know how he felt about that, if Eddard Stark had been a savage who cheated on her and was cruel to her then Oberyn would know how to deal with that, he would gut him with his spear the moment he heard about.

He didn't know how to deal with the fact that his sister might actually love him, might actually want to stay with him.

"Oberyn!" Elia shouted, a wide smile spreading across her face as she turned her eyes from her husband to her brother. She popped out of her chair and hurried over to her brother, pulling him into a hug and Oberyn couldn't stop a grunt from escaping his mouth.

Who ever has said that his sister was weak and fragile had clearly never been on the other side of one of her hugs, not that he was complaining at all. Adjusting Tyene slightly so he was sure that they weren't crushing her between them he returned the hug with one arm, throwing it over her shoulders. "I've missed you sister." He whispered into her ear.

For a few moments the siblings simply stood like that for a few moments, enjoying the fact that they were back together again for so long before Oberyn broke the hug and stepped back.

Elia sighed as she stepped away, her eyes were wet but not sad. She smiled at Tyene and held out her arms and Oberyn gladly handed the small girl over, Elia held her tight and pressed a kiss to the top of blond head. "I've missed you little one." She whispered and Tyene cooed as she wrapped her arms around her aunt's neck.

"Didn't you miss us as well Aunt Elia?" Nymeria asked as she and Obara stepped forward.

Elia smiled and knelt down in front of them. "Of course I did my love, could I have a hug? It's been so long since I've had one from all three of you." Nymeria quickly obliged her aunt, rushing forward and throwing her arms around her aunt's middle and Obara, while not quite as emotionally open as her sister, did not deny her aunt's wish and she walked over to her and hugged her.

Oberyn kept his eyes on them for a moment before footsteps and the sound of someone clearing his throat made him look away from them and he locked eyes with Eddard Stark. "It is a pleasure to finally meet your properly, Prince Oberyn." He said before he held out his hand.

"And to you Lord Stark." Oberyn said as he took his hand and shook it, deep down he knew that he wasn't a bad man but he had to be sure. "I wondered if you and I might have a private chat."

Lord Stark looked surprised for a moment but he nodded, Elia looked up at her brother and frowned. "Oberyn." She warned in a tone that sounded a great deal familiar to him, she had used it a great deal when they were children and it was used only when he was about to do something that she didn't approve off.

"Nothing to worry about sweet sister, we shall be back before you know it." Oberyn said with his famous smirk before he turned his attention to his daughters. "Until we return, you three be sure to keep your aunt company." As soon as he heard the words of consort he turned to Eddard and gestured at the door with his hand, beckoning him to go first.

Eddard stepped forward and opened the door and the two men left the room, neither of them noticing Elia's rather heavy frown, and began to walk down the corridors.

As the two lords walked together Oberyn began to speak. "Forgive me for saying this lord Stark, but the south does not seem to agree with you." The man was still sweating even now and he briefly wondered if his sister's husband was in fact in danger of collapsing, he hoped not because if he did then Elia would no doubt blame him for it.

The other man, to his credit Oberyn thought to himself, took it in good humour as he simply grimaced and replied. "Well, wolves are not built for such heat I am afraid to say. I do not know how you southerners stand it."

At that Oberyn could not help but laugh. "Forgive me for laughing Lord Stark, but if you can not handle this pray that my sister never asks you to visit Dorne with her, you might burst into flames. to us this weather is but a cool day."

"Aye, perhaps it is. I shall not recommend you come to the north then Prince Oberyn, I imagine that the cold would be a quite shock to you." Eddard said as he reached and brushed a hand over his long face to wipe away the sweat.

"I am from Dorne, Lord Stark. It is never cold." Oberyn pointed out. "Even at night it is simply cooler than the day and it is still as warm as a King's Landing afternoon, we truly do not bother with nightclothes in Dorne. Most of us sleep without covers as well."

Eddard coughed roughly and spluttered and Oberyn could not help but laugh at the reaction, it was funny however everyone north of Dorne were so close minded about everything, even mentioning nudity was something that set them off. A man and a woman had to be nude and together to make the precious heirs that were always made to seem so very important. "I am sorry Lord Stark, I did not mean to shock you."

"I am not shocked." Eddard said as he got his breath back and cleared his throat. "Simply was not expecting that our conversation would go to such a place."

"My brother and sister have told me that I tend to be...inappropriate when it comes to conversation, I must admit that learning the proper social graces has never held much of an interest to me, I would much rather someone mean what that they say and say it." Oberyn said with a shrug of his shoulders and was there a faint look of both surprise and approval in Lord Eddard's eyes or was he simply seeing things?

"I...am surprised to hear you say such a thing Prince Oberyn, I always thought that most southron lords were incapable off seeing past their little game, caring for nothing else." Eddard admitted. "I am actually pleased to hear that you do not play it as well."

"Well, I am not a southron lord. I am a prince." Oberyn pointed out with a chuckle. "Indeed that is part of the reason why I tend to not come to feasts or tournys and spend much of my time away from home, going to Essos or the Summer Isles there I am just a foregin lord and it does not matter what I do and I do not have to watch my words, I am afraid that not even Dorne is free from the game. It seems to be a fact of life everywhere you look."

"Not in the north." Eddard said as he and Oberyn walked through a covered bridge which over looked a training yard. "We do not have time to entertain such a game of power grabbing and deceit."

Oberyn's eyes narrowed as they reached the gallery on the other side of the covered bridge, normally he would assume that if someone said that then they were simply playing the oblivious fool but Eddard Stark did not seem like a liar, he seemed like an honest man and that forced him to accept a horrifying possibility, that he simply believed that and he actually was an oblivious fool.

Well, fool was too harsh. The man was not an idiot but he was oblivious if he thought that the game did not happen in the north, his own father was playing it right now. He may not want to play the game but he had always paid attention to all the lessons that his mother had taught him and it was obvious to even him what Lord Rickard Stark was doing.

A marriage to the Baratheons, A marriage to the Tullys, A Marriage to the Martells and Eddard being fostered to Jon Arryn, quite an alliance and said a alliance could only be meant for one thing.

Removing the Mad King.

Oberyn did not object, of course. There was a reason he was called the Mad King after all, Oberyn had only been summoned by the king once since he had come to the Red Keep and it still unsettled him to think about all this time, the man looked as if he hadn't slept for days and glared at him wit deranged eyes.

The king had also said some...very unkind things, to say about Eila, it had taken a great deal of control on his part to stop himself from doing something he would regret and he had never been known for his great control but he hadn't fancied being burned alive so he managed to keep a tight hold on his anger.

Queen Rhaella on the other hand, as soon as she had been free of her husband, had come to his rooms and offered him a very gracious apology. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman, she was clearly not married to a gentle husband and she was also married to her own brother on top of it. Everything about the woman seemed to radiate sadness, her eyes, her mouth and even her stance.

He did not envy her, he imagined that being queen was not a sweet consolation to being bond together to a monster for the rest of time.

Removing Aerys from the throne could only be to everyone's benefit but if Eddard Stark was not aware to what his father was planning then he would clearly not be able to survive playing the game, and to be honest he didn't care if he would survive it or not or if he was so naïve that he thought that the game wasn't played in the north.

What he cared about was Elia, if her new husband could not play the game then Elia would suffer for it, the only thing that Oberyn could hope for was that as a second son of the Lord of Winterfell then he wouldn't really have to play the game and if he did ever have to play the game then by that time came Elia would be able to teach him to play the game to some degree.

Oberyn was pulled out his thoughts when he felt Eddard gently tapping him on the shoulder. "Are you alright, you seemed to be lost in thought."

"I'm fine, actually I was wondering if I could ask you something." Oberyn said as he came to a sudden stop, Eddard nodded and crossed his arms.

"Do you love my sister?" Oberyn asked, Eddard looked surprised at the question for a moment before he nodded firmly, his face showing no doubt at his answer.

"I do, I do indeed love your sister. I love my wife." Eddard said firmly as he crossed his arms. "Is that hard for you to believe?"

"No, not that hard to believe to be honest. Elia has a gentle soul and a kind heart, if you get to know her long enough then it is hard not to love her." Oberyn had only known a few people who didn't like Elia. "But that isn't what I truly wanted to ask you, do you think you can take care of her, protect her from any possible threats, better than I could? She's far away from the rest of her family, from everyone who cares about her."

Eddard was quiet for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, then he opened them after a moment and Oberyn was surprised to see that his eyes were staring at him coldly, like chunks of cloudy ice. "First of all, your sister does not need to be protected but yes, I wouldn't let anyone hurt her if it was in my power to stop."

"And you are wrong, she is not away from her family or everyone she cares about, she is away from some of the people who care about her, my family cares about her. I care about her, I love her more than you can understand. I truly hope that one day you can love someone like I love your sister because then you will understand."

Oberyn was silent with his mouth hanging open slightly before he shook his head and shut his mouth, after a moment he couldn't stop a smirk from spreading across his face, who would ever guess that the so called quiet wolf could be so passionate? If it weren't for the fact that his sister was married to him and that he didn't really think he actually had a chance than he might actually try to bed him.

Not to mention he already had his hands full with trying to get under Jamie Lannister's skin.

"Well said...Brother." Oberyn said and he smiled at the look of shock that spread across Eddard's face. "Shall we head back?"

"Lets...Brother." Eddard said with a smile of his own and the two men turned and began to make their way back, a new understanding having formed between them.

* * *

Elia watched Obara and Nymeria play wrestle in the middle of the chamber as Tyene sat in her lap, she had missed this. Just enjoying being with her nieces, the last time she had done so was a few nights before she had left Dorne and it had not ended well.

Obara had been angry with the fact that she was being sent so far away, she had always been far too much like her father and instead of expressing how upset she was that she simply got angry and had yelled at all of them and when Elia had chastised her she had simply screamed in anger which upset her younger sisters and she left the room.

She had only seen her again on the morn that she had left and she had still been so angry about Elia leaving that she hadn't even said goodbye even when Doran commanded her to, simply running back inside of the water gardens and it had hurt Elia but she understood why she had done so.

Obara had not apologised to her yet but she did not want to force the issue, she had missed them all so much that she did not want to have an argument.

She wished that Doran and his children were here as well but she would take what she could get and she would see them again one day, perhaps she would be able to convince Eddard to come with her to Dorne but considering how he and rest of the northerners had reacted to the heat of King's Landing would probably collapse.

She wanted to tell Doran that she was expecting a child in person, she wanted to see her big brother react to it in person, such joyful news should not be told in a letter. She couldn't wait to see Oberyn react as well, she would tell him when he came back with Ned.

The door suddenly open and one of the guards that Ned had placed outside came in and he seemed a little surprised. "Forgive the intrusion my lady but...Prince Rhaegar is here, he wishes to see you."

Elia's eyes widened and her mouth dropped in disbelief for a little moment and strangled squeak was all the came out of her mouth as she tried to speak. She took a deep breath and stood up from chair, she handed Tyene over to her oldest sister. "I want the three of you to go to the bedroom and not come out until I fetch you, do you understand?" She asked.

Obara nodded and held her sister close to her chest and walked over to the door that lead into the bedroom, Nymeria following them. As soon as the girls were in the room and when she was sure that the door was firmly closed she turned to the guard and nodded.

The guard opened the door and as soon as Rhaegar stepped through he left the room and shut the door behind him, even after all this time Elia was stricken by Rhaegar's beauty, his long silver hair went flowing over his shoulders and down his back and his purple eyes seemed to shine in the warm afternoon sun. He was dressed in a black doublet and red pants and his full lips pulled into a smile when he saw Elia.

"May we speak?"

End of Chapter Twenty.

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 **Thought I would leave you guys on a cliff hanger, please leave a review and follow and favourite and never be afraid to give me constructive criticism.**


	21. Chapter 21

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-One.

Elia was quiet from the shock for a moment at Rhaegar's request before she remembered her curtsies and nodded with a smile, she sat down at the table. "I would love to speak with you my prince, it has been to long since we have."

She didn't want to be rude after all, forgetting the fact that Rhaegar was the crown prince for a moment he was also her friend and she did not want to deny him, there had been a time when the two of them had told one another anything and they would've been married to one another, she would never have kept anything from him.

But there was no point in lingering on what could've been, she had not married Rhaegar, she had married Ned and she was happy with him, she was bearing his child and she had gotten used to the north. No, she was happy there, happier than she thought that she would ever be.

Rhaegar sat down across from her and offered her a solemn smile. "It's been a very long time Elia. Almost year if I remember correctly." He laid his arm on the table with his outstretched to her.

Elia knew that she shouldn't but she reached out and took his hand, shivering slightly as his long, delicate fingers curled around her hand and how his pale like milk skin, that almost looked like marble, looked against her dark olive skin. "I've missed you as well Rha-My prince." She corrected herself, they were not betrothed anymore and thus she lost the right to call him by his name.

Rhaegar smiled and gently squeezed her hand. "You can still call me by my name Elia, so long as you have no objections to me calling you by yours."

"Thank you Rhaegar, that is very generous of you." Elia said with a small smile, it had so long since she had actually spoken to him even before the betrothal was called off, she had been in Dorne and the Mad King had always been suspicious of them and she had not seen him in months and she had very few letters from him either, then the word had come that Aerys had called off the match and she had been sent North before she even had time to send a letter to Rhaegar to asked what had happened.

It had upset her, it had upset her a great deal. She had wanted to marry Rhaegar, she loved Ned of course, she loved him more than anything but Rhaegar had been a great friend to her over the years and it would not have been impossible for her to grow to love him in time but that time had been stolen from them and she loved another.

There was no point in being upset about it, she realised. No man or woman could turn back time not matter how they wished they could or how much they prayed to the gods. They had to live with their choices, and the choices of others. No matter what and she was happy with Ned.

She gently pulled her hand way from Rhaegar's, if nothing else she didn't not want to give him the wrong impression. "Well then Rhaegar, what would you like to talk to me about?" She asked as she tried to ignore the flash of surprise and what looked far too much like sadness in his eyes.

"I would like to talk about you, Elia. We didn't have any time to speak before you left, I sent a letter to you but Doran wrote back to tell me that you had left two days before." Rhaegar said and Elia tried to hide her surprise, Doran had not once in any of their letters had even mentioned that Rhaegar had sent a letter to her?

Did he think she was stupid? Did he honestly think that she was going to even entertain the idea of having an affair? Not only was she married to a man that she loved and at the time was far away from anyone who would've sheltered her if said affair had gone wrong? She knew that most people thought of Dorne as a land where affairs were treated casually but it was not at all that simple, paramours were accepted as were bastards but most men and women who had paramours were men and women who did not have a husband or a wife or were paramours who were kept after a marriage.

It was rare for a man or a woman of Dorne to seek a paramour after they had already been married and if they did then it was generally looked down on by the rest of Dorne. There was a reason that Oberyn refused to be married after all, as a prince he was held to higher expectations than the rest of lords and ladies in Dorne but so long as he wasn't married then no one cared about him sleeping around, and bastards were not judged as harshly as they were simply the result of such passion and were not born of any fault of there own.

"If I had known that you had written me a letter to me then I would've written to you." Elia said before she let out a heavy sigh. "But maybe I wouldn't have, I'm married to someone else, it would probably have just hurt us both."

"Are you happy, with Lord Stark? He is the second son after all and I am so sorry about that, my father was trying to insult you and your family and-" Rhaegar sighed heavily and rubbed his face with his hands and let out the most tired and bone weary sigh that she had ever heard in her life and in that moment he looked more tired then she had ever seen him.

"He get's worse with every passing day Elia, he passes the death sentence every chance he gets no matter what the crime is, he burned a boy alive in front of the entire court for stealing some bread from the kitchens. He was younger than Viserys. He's a monster Elia." He admitted and then let out a heavy sigh which seemed to make his entire body shake. "It has been an utter nightmare."

Elia sighed at the sight of Rhaegar with his head buried in his hands and his arms resting on the table, he looked so tired, so sad more sad than she had ever seen him and she had seen him quite sad more than a few times in the past. When they were children there had been more than a few times when Rhaegar and his mother had come to Dorne at her mother's invitation.

Her mother and the Queen had been good friends when they had been about her age, her mother had actually been one of her ladies while she was still just the princess and they formed a strong bond of friendship, it was said that only her bond with Joanna Lannister was stronger than theirs. The queen had visited both her mother and Joanna as much as she could and when she was younger she didn't really understand it.

Did the queen not like King's Landing, did she not like living in the Red Keep? It hadn't occurred to why the woman did not want to be there and how she was seemingly fine spending so much time away from her husband, surely she missed him? But at the time she didn't put much more thought into it then that, she was a child and she was always more excited to see Rhaegar then his mother even though she was always kind to her.

But as time passed on and she grew older and the trips grew less and less come she began to notice certain things, that as soon as they arrived the queen would practically dash into her mother's arms and cry and cry and Elia's mother would simply hold her until she stopped and how it seemed to take her great deal of effort to move and how she needed Elia's mother to help her inside.

Even Rhaegar seemed different, more withdrawn and his voice was quite when ever he spoke, she had always asked him what was wrong but he had never told her and he always looked a little guilty, like he had something to do with it and that concerned her as a child.

A few nights after the end of one of their visits and the queen and Rhaegar were on their way back to King's Landing, Elia had gone to see her mother just before her bedtime and she had asked what was wrong with the queen and why her stays were becoming fewer and fewer.

Her mother had sighed heavily and pulled her into her lap and had brushed her hands through her dark curls and pressed a kiss to her forehead and explained it all to her, how some men could be very, very cruel and the king was very cruel and sometimes very cruel men hurt the people they cared about, the people that they shouldn't and the reason that Rhaegar felt guilty was because there was nothing he could do to stop his father from being cruel to his mother,

That conversation was burned into her mind, it had been the first time anyone had ever spoken to her like she was an adult.

Elia sighed and reached out and placed her hand on Rhaegar's shoulder to try and offer him some sort of comfort to him, Rhaegar smiled and placed his hand over hers.

"I am sorry Elia, I did not come here to talk about my problems, I wanted to make sure that you were well. How is your lord husband? He is treating you well, are you happy with him?" He asked as he stroked his thumb over the back of her hand and Elia could barely suppress a shiver that ran through her entire body, she had forgotten what Rhaegar touching her could do to her.

She gently pulled her hand away again and laid them both in her lap so she wouldn't be able to touch him. "I am happy with him, very much so. I...I love him Rhaegar, I love him a very great deal."

"I am happy to hear that, so long as you are happy." Rhaegar said though Elia could hear something in his voice that sounded to her that he was not quite as happy as he said that he was.

She was to be honest more than a little surprised by how he was acting, they were dear friends and she loved Rhaegar in a way but she did not think that he would be this...put out by the fact that she was happy with her husband, she knew that he considered her a friend and that he trusted her advice but the way he was acting seemed to suggest that he thought more of her than that.

"How about you? I am aware that Cersei Lannister has arrived in King's Landing, do you like her?" Elia asked already thinking that she knew the answer, if she hadn't changed much from when she was a small child abusing her poor baby brother then she wasn't sure how anyone could like the woman.

Rhaegar grimaced, such a look seeming to mar his beautiful face. "She is...very eager to be married to me, so there is that. She and I have not truly spoke and much and when we have spoken it seems...to be honest with you, the woman seems like a complete and utter fool."

Elia tried to remember her curtsies, it would do no good to openly insult the other woman. "I am sure that she is simply excited, it is not every day that you are going to marry a prince. I am sure that when the excitement wears off then you shall be able to truly know her."

"To be honest Elia, I do not wish to marry her. I know my duty and I shall do it but I wish that I did not have too." Rhaegar admitted with a small sigh. "You are an admirable companion, and as I am sure Lord Eddard will attest to, a more than admirable wife."

"You always were a charmer Rhaegar." Elia said with a small giggle.

Rhaegar grinned at her as she giggled but then it fell away after a moment with a heavy sigh. "I have to confess that I didn't just come to speak with you about personal matters, I need to ask you something."

"Of course, what do you need?" Elia asked with a curious expression on her face.

Rhaegar glanced back at the door for a moment and then glanced at the door to the bedroom where the girls were waiting before he reached to his sleeve and pulled out two letters. "Can you make sure that these get to Rickard Stark and your brother?" He asked in a voice that was near a whisper.

Elia glanced down at the two letters that he had handed to her, they weren't sealed and she gently unfolded one of the letters, her eyes widening as she read it's contents, this wasn't too hard to believe but if the king found out that this was what Rhaegar had planned then heir or no the king would show no mercy to him. "Rhaegar, what you have written here is-

"I know, Elia believe me I know but something has to be done and you know it so. It can not stay like this." Rhaegar pleaded with her, his eyes begging her to understand.

"Rhaegar...You've put me in danger by even showing these to me, you are asking me to put my husband, my brothers, my nieces and nephews, my good-father and good-sisters and good-brothers in danger as well, you've put my child in danger!" Elia shouted as she placed her hand over her stomach, mentally she chastised herself for yelling at Rhaegar, he was still the prince after all and for revealing that she was pregnant, she hadn't wanted to tell him.

"You're with child?" Rheagar breathed in disbelief, his eyes glancing down at her stomach before he set them back onto her face. "Elia, I know. I know, and I am so sorry if I could think of any other way to do this without involving you I would've but this is the best way that I can think to do it, your brother and good-father are already planning, don't tell me that you do not see it?"

Elia did see it, she had been trained by their mother as Doran had been and it had not taken her long to notice that her good-father was marrying his children to houses south of the Neck, it was building alliances and her marriage to Ned was a decree of support.

She imagined now that she thought of it that was why Rickard allowed her and Ned to go south in the first place, what better way to throw off suspicion then to send them directly to the Mad King himself, he may hail from a land where playing the game was at least openly looked down up but he was a half decent player himself.

"Your silence condemns you Elia, I just want them to know that they are not alone in planning and they have an ally." Rhaegar whispered and he placed his hands on her shoulders. "They are already in danger but I am sorry I put you in it directly but please. help me. You know that this has to be done."

Elia glanced down at the letters for a moment, her mind racing as she thought. If anyone found her with these letters then her head would be removed from her neck before she knew what had happened but at the same time she knew that if something wasn't done about the Mad King then how many would suffer? How many would die?

She sighed gently before she nodded. "All right, I shall give the letters to them." She said whilst silently praying to the old gods and the new that she was not making a terrible mistake.

Rhaegar closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Elia, thank you so much." He pulled her into a hug and Elia did not resist, Rhaegar pulled away and made his way to the room's door. "I have to go now, I will be in touch. I promise. And thank you so much." Rhaegar said with a final smile and just like that, he was gone, shutting the door behind him.

Elia glanced down at the letters in her hand for a moment, a million thoughts racing together before she sighed and walked over to her trunk and opened and placed the letters inside and shut the trunk again.

"Can we come out now?" The voice very nearly made Elia jump out of her skin and turned quickly to see Obara half leaning out of the bedroom door, a sheepish grin on her face.

"Yes. You may." Elia said with a small smile and Obara opened the door properly and let her sisters out of the room, as Nym went back to sitting in her own seat Elia walked over to Obara and Tyene and picked the younger girl up, Obara glanced up at her aunt with a small frown on her face. "Are you okay?" She asked quietly.

Elia sighed and reached down to stroke Obara's dark hair and smiled sadly down at her.

She wished that she knew how to answer that.

End of Chapter Twenty-One

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 **Please follow, favourite and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome.**


	22. Chapter 22

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Elia sighed happily as the warm afternoon sun of King's Landing warmed her skin and the air was filled with sweet scent flowers as she and her husband and her nieces sat around a table in the middle of the gardens. She had missed the warmth so much despite how much she had grown to love the north.

It gladdened her to see that Ned had seemed to grown used, at the very least he did not seem as through he was going to collapse at any rate, to the soft heat of King's Landing, it was a good sign that maybe in time he would be able to handle the scorching heat of Dorne and he would be able to see her homeland.

She also had to admit that the brief image that passed through her mind of Eddard, dressed in the clothes of her homeland, with an open boiled leather vest that would show his chest and the dark curls of hair with a few beads of sweat slipping down...

Perhaps it was a good idea that Eddard didn't come back to Dorne with her, she might not ever let him get out of her bed ever again.

With a small smile she reached out and picked up a glass of arbor gold and began to sip at it, the wine had been chilled and she didn't not think she would able to stop drinking it at that moment, she hadn't been this relaxed in a long time. Arbor gold was made by House Redwyne who were loyal vassals of house Tyrell who the Martells had something of a...complicated relationship, still the wine was worth the tiny betrayal. She would only have the one glass however, she had heard that a glass too many could hurt a child and she would rather die then harm the one that grew within her in any way.

As she put the glass back down on the table she had to fight to stop herself from giggling as she looked at Obara, the poor dear looked so uncomfortable dressed in a soft green silk dress with Myrish Lace decorating her middle and the sleeves of her dress, the poor thing looked like a little boy that had been forced to dress as a girl and her face was as dark and heavy as a storm.

Her younger sisters thankfully both looked far more comfortable in dresses of their own, Nymeria's was black and dark orange with her arms laid bare and with a small version of the speared sun of House Martell stitched on the front of her dress with orange thread, Tyene's dress was almost the complete opposite of her sister's, pale white with her arms and shoulders completely covered and a blue sash around her missed. It suited her however, with her long flaxen hair and pale skin.

Oberyn was currently away from the table, he had decided to go and find her a far more comfortable chair than the one she currently sat in despite the fact that it was completely comfortable and if she closed her eyes it might be possible for her to fall asleep in but Oberyn would not hear of it. He had been like this ever since he had found out she was pregnant and thus had charged them with the care of his daughters until he returned with this promised throne.

At the moment the youngest sand snake was staring up at her new uncle with wide eyes, disbelief held in inch of her gaze. "You truly have no oranges in the north?" She asked, her voice was high and full of disbelief. If not for the fact that had been taught better manners, mostly by her and Doran, she would mostly likely call her new uncle a liar.

If Ned was offended by Tyene's tone then he did not show it, in fact he seemed to be amused as he stared down at the little girl with a soft smile. "No, I'm afraid not. It is far too cold for oranges to grow in the north. Though I have tried them before, when I was fostered in the Eyrie when I was younger, Lord Arryn had a few crates of them brought up to the High Hall."

"Did you like them?" Tyene asked sweetly.

"Well, I only got to try one and it made my mouth tingle and I thought it to be a little sour at first, sadly before I got to try another one my friend threw an orange at someone's face and before my foster father could say anything about orange were flying through the hall." Ned revelled and he smiled as Tyene giggled loudly at her uncle's story.

"So there are no oranges in the north, what of mangos? pomegranates? Do you have any of those?" Nymeria asked and then sighed when Ned shook his head. "Forgive me but I do not think I would wish to visit the north, it sounds so cold."

"It can seem that way at times." Ned confessed but again he did not at all seem insulted and once again Elia was surprised, not by much as by now she knew her husband well and she loved him all the more but it was still always pleasant to see. Some lords would not even speak a word to a bastard let alone allow one to speak out against their own homeland but Ned spoke to her as he would any other child.

"But it is never that bad, Winterfell can be quite warm in fact. It can carry hot spring water all around it through pipes built in the walls, like veins carry blood around a man. There are some rooms in Winterfell that are actually too hot for me, you never have to be cold there if you do not wish to be." Eddard spoke as he did his voice started to sound far away and Elia knew that he was thinking of being back in Winterfell and Elia could not blame him, even now there were times at Winterfell when she found herself longing for Sunspear, or splashing her feet in one of the pools of the Water Gardens.

It was natural, to want for home. Though now, those times were starting to become fewer and fewer and here in King's Landing, when she thought of home she didn't think of the crystal blue pools of the Water Gardens or the sandy walls of Sunspear, she thought of grey towers that stretched into the grey sky, fires blazing in stone heaths and the sounds steel hitting against steel in the training yard, watching snow gently fall to the ground and watching workers from the kitchen harvesting food from the glass gardens and listening to whatever ancient tale that Old Nan decided to spin that day as she knitted, if she closed her eyes then Elia could almost hear the click-clack of her knitting needles.

It was not only Ned that had a faraway look on his face now, Nymeria was clearly trying to picture the ancient castle of the first men as well and she sighed gently. "I think that I would like to see that, one day."

"I don't." Obara spat out as she tore into the apple she was holding with ferocity of a tiger, chunks of apple and spittle flying everywhere and Elia had to resist the urge to sigh. She knew that she should have rebuked her manners but she knew that it would be a fool's errand so she decided to not even try, she truly loved all of her nieces but Obara could be so difficult.

She tried not to smile as the sudden thought that her niece reminded her somewhat of a long dark haired maid in the north, she was fairly certain that her Lord Husband saw the resemblance in temperament if not in appearance as well.

"And why is that?" Ned asked gently, no heat in his tone, no anger or accusation. Simple curiosity as to why the little snake would not want to see his home that he loved so much.

"Nowhere is better than Sunspear, it is the seat of House Martell. Those who sit the throne are the blood of the Warrior Queen Nymeria and Lord Mors Martell, I have the blood of a queen. Why would I ever want to see any distant castle in some kingdom far away?" Obara asked as she threw the apple that was little more than a core over her shoulder.

Ned didn't say anything for a moment, simply held her gaze. "Winterfell isn't just some castle, it is the seat of House Stark and the Starks themselves are the blood of Kings of Winter, do you know of them?"

She did not, the problem with Dorne and the North being so far apart from each other was that the two kingdoms didn't know much of one another and while there was always a septa or a maester at both Sunspear and the Water gardens Obara almost never attended any lessons beyond learning her letters and numbers, on everything else she relied on her father and he truly only taught her ways on how to defend herself and how to kill a man.

Obara shook her head in response to the man in front of her, he had been the only one of Oberyn's daughters that as of yet had not seemed to warn to her Aunt's new husband. "The kings of winter ruled the North when the seven kingdoms were still the seven kingdoms, and every single one of them had been Starks and the first was Bran the builder, he built the wall and Winterfell."

Then the three girls sat enrapture of all the stories that Eddard told, Nym and Tyene seemed more interested at first but before too long Obara was clearing paying attention to the stories of the old kings of the north as well, her favourite seemed to be about another King named Bran, who had burned all the navel power off the north in grief of his beloved father, it worried Elia more than a little bit that Obara could relate to such a man, what would she do if something ever happened to Oberyn?

A part of her feared for the world if that ever happened.

As Ned was focused on telling the girls stories and the girls were focused on listening, only Elia truly heard the approaching footsteps but she though nothing off it, it was just Oberyn finally coming back with her promised throne but when she turned her head to look at her brother the smile fell from her lips, not due to disappointment at who she saw but simply that she was surprised at who it was.

It had been a long time since she had ever seen Jamie Lannister, he had been more a boy than a man when she had last scene him, but it was easy for her to tell that it was him, tall and golden, golden hair with green eyes that were flecked with gold. Some said that in certain lights, the Lannisters even seemed to be made of gold and she could certainly see that.

She wasn't surprised to see him in King's Landing, Oberyns letter had mentioned that the Lannister heir was here, had come with his sister when she came to join her soon to be husband who would make her a princess but she was more than a little surprised to find him approaching her, they honestly had no reason to speak with one another. "Ser Jamie, how pleasant to see you again after all this time." She said pleasantly, there was no reason for her to not welcome him either.

Her words drew the attention of her husband and her nieces who turned to face the man, she couldn't see it do to the fact that her back was to her husband but she was fairly certain that could feel him frowning heavily. "Is there anything that we can do for you? Why don't you take a seat? It's my brother's but I am sure that he will not mind, he went to go and find another chair anyway." Elia offered as she gestured at the empty chair.

"Thank you for your kindness Princess Elia but I don't think I will, I only wanted to come and say hello as it has been a while since we saw one another." Jamie said with a smirk as his gaze turned from Elia to her husband. "Well, this must only be Lord Eddard himself. A pleasure to meet you my lord."

"A pleasure as well Ser Jamie." From the tone of Ned's voice it was clearly no great pleasure but Ser Jamie didn't say anything, merely kept that smirk on his handsome face, he was beautiful no one could deny that.

"Well, I should be on my way. I promised my sister that I would join her for dinner and it would not do to offend our future princess, by your leave Princess." Jamie said and Elia nodded, Jamie turned on his heel and walked away from the table.

As soon as Jamie was far enough away Elia turned back in her chair so she was facing Ned, her husband was frowning gently and had not taken his eyes away from Jamie and didn't until he was out of sight and then turned his head to look at Elia. "Why would he come over here to talk to us?"

"It might be as he said, he simply wanted to say hello but I don't know." Elia admitted with a sigh as she brought up her hand to run her fingers through her inky black curls. "You can be sure with people in King's Landing, it's nest of vipers."

"Papa's a viper!" Tyene pointed out and neither Ned or Elia could stop themselves from smiling at the little girl's declaration.

"He is little one, but vipers are dangerous. Your father is dangerous but he would never hurt us, you know that. The vipers here are different, they might not look it at first but they are extremely dangerous to us." Elia said as she reached out and stroked her long hair, she didn't want to scare the girl but she was smart enough to understand that the world was full of monsters that did not look like monsters.

Tyene was silent from then, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

From then the table was mostly silent, Tyene did not speak unless a question was asked to her and her sisters only spoke to one another, quietly so that Elia and Ned could not hear what they were saying and Elia and Ned said nothing to one another, simply held their hands and allowed the tightening of their grip and glances of their eyes to say everything that was needed.

The silence was broken after a few more moments when there was the sound of more footsteps approaching, they were more gentle than Ser Jamie's and they were too little to be Oberyn's either, everyone at the table turned to look at who was approaching the table, a woman with streaks of grey among her long blond hair and was dressed in a simply black gown with the only decoration being a small silver necklace. "Princess Elia, I bring an invitation from the Queen. She would ask that you come and join her for tea."

Elia blinked heavily and looked back at Ned and then at her nieces, all of them looked as surprised as she did before she turned back to the woman and offered her a gentle smile. "I would be more than happy to keep the queen company, could you please give me just a moment?" The lady bobbed her head down for a moment before walking a few steps away, not leaving but simply giving them enough room to speak in private.

"I can not deny a queen's summon, I have to go and see what she wants." Elia said as she stood from her chair. "You stay here and wait for Oberyn to return, I will be back shortly."

Ned's face was heavy and dark, he did not seem happy with this but he knew that invitation had not extended to him and he could hardly impose himself on to the queen. He stood from her chair and pressed a kiss to her cheek and rested his hand on the small swell on her stomach, she was only just barely beginning to show, if you didn't know she was pregnant than no one would ever suspect that she was pregnant. "Be careful, and hurry back."

"I will." Elia said with a gentle smile before she kissed his lips and stepped away from him, she turned and followed the woman back towards the keep.

The woman did not say anything to her on their short journey and did not decide to press her on, if she did not wish to speak then there was no reason to force conversation. It did not take them long to reach the queens rooms, not the ones in Maegor's Holdfast but the ones in the Maidenvault, it saddened her that the queen needed to flee here for any semblance of peace.

Memories of her visits to Dorne came to her mind once again Elia could only sigh gently, her heart broke for the queen.

They stood in front of the door and the woman reached out her hand and rapped her knuckles against the door and called out. "Your Grace, the Princess Elia is here to see you."

"Please show her in." The high and gentle voice called out and the woman opened the door, both Elia and the woman stepped into the room beyond.

The room was beautiful, that was the first thing that struck her. The celling was high and carved from the same red stone as the rest of the Red Keep but as the warm afternoon sun streamed in from the large open balcony, it painted the stone a lighter pink and the room was permeated with a dozen sweet scents.

These scents came from hundreds upon hundreds of flowers, lilacs and daisies and tulips, chrysanthemums from the reach and dozens and dozens of roses, red as blood and white as snow and gold as the symbol of House Tyrell but what truly struck her were just the few glimpses of blue roses that she saw.

Blue winter roses were actually quite common in the North, there were dozens in the glass gardens and all around Winterfell and she had been stricken by the sight of them, she had wondered why she had never seen anything like them before but it did not take her long to find the answer.

Apparently winter roses did not grow well in the south, If they did grow at all, then the warmth of the south would burn their petals black.

But these petals were still as blue as frost, they were alive and thriving.

But the room and the flowers nothing compared to the room's occupant, Rhaella Targaryen was a great beauty with her long beautiful silver hair that looked like spun silk flowing down to the bottom of her back and beautiful violet eyes like small amethysts. She smiled gently and rose from her chair. "Thank you Minisa, you may leave us now." She spoke gently but she looked every inch a queen.

The woman with grey in her hair nodded and walked to the door, when she had left and closed it behind her Rhaella walked forward and held out her arms to Elia. "You've grown so much my dear, hopefully you are not to big to offer me a hug."

Elia returned her smile and stepped over to her and allowed herself to be pulled into an embrace, circling her arms around Rhaella's back and closing her eyes for a moment, if she tried very hard then she could almost imagine that it was her mother holding her in that moment, her nose could smell the faintest hints of her scent, citrus and lavender.

"You're even more beautiful than your mother was." Rhaella whispered into her hair but Elia knew that it was not true at all, she was not the most beautiful woman in the world, if fact she was not the most beautiful woman in Dorne either, she knew that she was not ugly but she would never be a great beauty that would have songs written about her.

Her mother had been, before any of them had been born her mother had been the sole ruling Princess of Dorne hundreds upon hundreds of suitors came to her, they would never rule Dorne as inheritance worked different in Dorne, they had come to her because they wanted to marry a beautiful princess and she was so beautiful.

Even after all of her children had been born her beauty had not faded, her hair became streaked with grey and lines stretched across her face but these did not diminish her beauty, if anything it had simply enhanced it.

She used to wish that she would've been half as lovely as her, she still did.

"Thank you, your grace. You are so very kind." Elia said with a gentle smile before Rhaella pulled away from her and sat back down at the table, when Rhaella gave her permission to sit she sat in a chair that was placed across from her. "Forgive me for asking your grace but I do have to wonder why you summoned me? I wasn't even sure you were aware that I was here."

"Rhaegar told me that you were here." She supposed that she should have expected that, Rhaegar always told his mother everything. "And in truth I wanted to speak with you...and offer an apology."

Elia blinked heavily. "An apology? Your grace I do not need an apology, you have done nothing to wrong me." As soon as she said that the queen let out a little sigh but Elia barely heard it, she thought it might have simply been a small flow of wind at first.

"Perhaps I do not owe you an apology but my husband does, of course he will never do that and so it falls to me." Rhaella explained before she sighed again and shook her head. "I asked him not to put you aside, I begged him not to but he would not listen to me. I told him that the Dornishmen would not take it well and that it would be an insult to your mother's memory as she had arranged the match but he simply said that he was the king and his decision was final."

"Aerys has never been a kind man." The queen continued. "He was not a good brother to me and he has never been a good husband, I begged my father to not marry me to him, I begged him not to marry me to him, I dropped to my knees and pleaded, even then I knew what Aerys was, but like his son my father would not be swayed. He believed that a prince who would save all the world would come from our line."

"But what has our marriage brought? Two living sons out of half a dozen and no daughters to call my own." Rhaella spat and Elia was surprised at the bitterness and the anger in the Queen's voice, it sounded wrong to be coming from her. The queen's face crumpled and she sighed. "And no promised prince, no third child to complete my father's precious prophecy."

"Aerys slapped me when he saw that I had bored him a second son, he called me the filthiest words you could imagine and screamed at me. He needed a daughter, a son and two daughters like Aegon the conqueror and his sister wives." For a moment there was nothing but sadness behind his violet eyes and they were starting to become wet. "I have feared Aerys many times in my life, I have been angry with him many times in my life and all love I might have had for him had left me long ago but that was the first time that I could truly say that I hated him."

Then the queen, and the room was quiet. Elia reached out and took the queen's hand to try and offer whatever comfort that she could which she was sure was not all that much but still the queen gave her a gentle smile and squeezed her hand.

"You should've been Rhaegar's queen, he needs a wise woman at his side to help him with his duties and Cersei Lannister is many things but wise is not one of them." Rhaella said as she gently leaned down and pressed her lips to the top of Elia's knuckles.

"I'm sure that Lady Lannister has many fine qualities that will make her an excellent queen." None sprung to Elia's mind at the moment but she did not decided to say anything about that.

Rhaella scoffed and shook her head, her long sliver hair seemed to catch the wind flowing into the room and it billowed like a curtain. "Cersei Lannister has all her mother's beauty, in fact she is even more beautiful than Joanna ever was but she has nothing of her grace, nothing of her wit, nothing of her intelligence."

The queen suddenly turned to look at the setting sun, had it been so late when Elia had come here? Had they spent so much time in here?. "The first time I was pregnant after Rhaegar, I prayed that it would be a girl, I prayed to the mother that she would be healthy and live, she didn't. I wanted a daughter so much because I wanted my daughter, and Joanna's daughter and Loreza's daughter to be friends and companions."

"But now...both of my friends are gone and their daughters are women grown and I am unlikely to have a daughter of myself." Rhaella said and then shook her head as she tore her gaze away from the sun and locked her eyes with Elia's. "Forgive me, I did not bring you here to speak of my problems. I wanted to know of you, I am aware that your journeyed with your husband, how is he? Do you like him? Is he kind to you?"

"He is, I do. I do a lot more than like him in fact, I love him." She spoke as she thought of her husband and the queen's eyes filled with happiness for her.

"I am so happy for you my dear, does he like King's Landing? I imagine that it must seem a great deal different to the north after all." Elia nodded and explained that it had taken Ned a few days but it seemed that he was growing more used to everything now but he seemed to be growing a little weary and wished to return home soon.

"I can understand the urge to be sure but I wonder if you might ask your lord husband and your brother if they might consider staying in King's Landing for a few more weeks." When the queen saw the confusion on Elia's face she began to explain. "There is to be a tourney to celebrate their engagement, the ravens bearing invitations were sent out last night but you and your husband could represent house Stark and your brother could represent House Martell, you could all be my guests."

"It...it would be an honour your grace." And it would to be certain and it was not something that she could refuse, you didn't refuse a queen. "I will go and tell my Lord Husband and brother of your invitation."

Rhaella smiled and rose to her feet and Elia followed her. "Thank you Elia." She walked with Elia over to the door and opened it. "I shall see you son my dear." And with that it was over, as soon as Elia stepped out the door was shut behind her and she was alone in the corridors of the Maidenvault.

As she made her way back to her rooms, more than likely Eddard would have taken the girls back to their chambers as the sky was now the colour of a fresh bruise, she couldn't help but think on what had just happened and the letters that Rhaegar had brought to her.

They would stay for the Tourney but as soon as that was done they would be away from here as soon as possible.

End of Chapter Twenty-Two.

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 **Please follow, favourite and review. The next chapter will switch over to Jamie and will be somewhat shorter than this one, constructive criticism is more than welcome.**

 **By the way, if anyone if curious to who I would use for Elia and Ned in this story then it would be Golshifteh Farahani for Elia and Sam Claflin for Ned.**


	23. Chapter 23

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Three.

Jamie was starting to regret accepting his sister's invitation for tea, well no he didn't regret it at all because he was glad to see her and he loved every moment he spent in the presence but what he did regret was telling her that he had seen Elia Martell and her cold northern husband in the gardens, all her warmth had fallen away from her and now she was pacing up and down her chambers and muttering like a mad woman.

Even now she was beautiful however, the warm afternoon sun caught her hair and made it looked like spun gold and her eyes were burning like green flames due to her anger, it was terrifying and beautiful and he couldn't tear himself away from looking at them. He stepped forward and put his hand on her arm and gently grabbed hold of it to stop her from pacing.

She shot him a glare that would send most men fleeing from the room, thankfully Jamie was not most men. "Will you calm down, if you keep pacing like this then you might be too exhausted too coo over your future husband at dinner tonight and that would be such a shame that I do not think that I could take it."

"Do you truly think that it is wise to mock me at the moment?" Cersei practically spat at him, the anger behind her eyes seemed to be growing every second that she looked at her brother. "When you bring me news like this?"

"You wanted to know if it was true that Princess Elia and her husband had come, you asked me to look into it. All I've done is tell you the truth." Jamie pointed out with a smirk, crossing his arms. "I would say that you've made your own bed."

Cersei scooped up her wine goblet and threw it at Jamie's head with a roar of rage, Jamie tilted his head to the side to avoid the goblet that went flying through the air and shattered into a thousand fragments as soon as it collided with the wall, glass tinkling down to the floor and the red wine staining the wall. "Now sweet sister, control yourself. You're going to be the princess of all seven kingdoms, is that truly how a princess should act?"

He would never normally mock his sister like this but at the moment Jamie could not help it, ever since they had arrived in King's Landing she had been utterly insufferable, when she wasn't going on and on about her future husband, how perfect her wedding was going to be or how she was going to be the queen one day, she was talking about how she couldn't trust anyone.

A sudden and recent memory came to him, over a week after they had arrived in King's Landing a handmaiden of Cersei's was caught sneaking out of her room with a beautiful ruby necklace and when his sister had found out she ordered that the handmaiden's hands and tongue be removed and her body thrown into the blackwater, the guards had not hesitated to do it as they would do anything to please their future queen. The worst thing was that there was no one that Jamie could tell about what happened, telling anyone would damage her engagement and Jamie knew that she would never forgive him.

Looking back to that moment, he wondered if he truly saw who his sister really was. But the worst thing was that it did truly little to bother him, it was a monstrous thing that she had done but he still loved her, even if at times it was so damn hard to be able to love her.

"This isn't funny! The only reason I suspected she was here because one of my ladies saw Rhaegar leaving a guest apartment, he is seeing her Jamie! That foreign whore is trying to steal my Rhaegar!" Cersei spat and Jamie knew that at the moment his sister was thinking of the most painful way to punish the dornish princess for this transgression. "I will carve out her heart and have her body fed to the dogs!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to be careful, you aren't the princess yet." Jamie pointed out as he sat down at the table and scooped up a slice of blackberry cake and popped into the mouth. "You were lucky that Rhaegar never found out about what you did to that girl, I don't think he would be very happy with you."

Cersei's pale face turned scarlet with her rage and for a moment Jamie honestly thought that she was going to hit him but at the last moment she seemed to regain control of herself and sat down in the chair at the other side of the table before she reached out and took his hands and looked at him in the eyes, it was almost like gazing into his reflection. "Jamie, she's trying to ruin everything for me. Don't let her Jamie, please?" She whimpered.

Jamie reached out with his hand and cupped her face and it struck him once again how truly beautiful his sister was. "Cersei, you don't have anything to worry about, she came here with her husband, I am sure that Ned Stark would have quite a problem with his wife attempting to seduce the prince and besides, she doesn't seem the type to try and take someone that belongs to someone else."

Cersei narrowed her eyes and shook her head, her golden curls bouncing around her face. "She's Dornish, you know what they say about Dornish women, do you honestly think that she cares about the fact that Rhaegar is going to be mine one day? She won't, not that whore. A part of me doesn't blame her for wanting him back, he's the prince and he's perfect and she was going to marry him and now she's the wife of a savage who won't inherit anything."

"She seems to be quite fond of him, from what little I saw." When he had seen the two of them in the garden he had been surprised, not by the fact that the husband and wife had been sitting with one another of course, what had surprised him was that the quiet wolf seemed to be showing such actual interest in his wife's nieces, it was unusual enough to be sure as most lords would not care overly much about his wife's extended relations even if they were trueborn, the fact that he seemed to be interested in knowing them even though they were bastards was surprising, if Jamie was a far more cynical person then he would even say it was suspicious.

But, even though Jamie had probably only spoken to the man perhaps half a dozen times including their one sentence to one another earlier, to him Eddard Stark did not seem the type of man who had any sort of ulterior motives and even if he did have one he did not seem like the type of man who use children as his pawns and Jamie couldn't think of any reason why they would be useful to him.

His sister did not seem to be at all convinced, she looked at him as though he had said the most ridicules thing imaginable and had grown two extra heads. She shook her head. "Fond? How could ever be fond of a man like that? A man who can give her nothing but being the lady of some unimportant holdfast? I would do anything to be rid of him as soon as possible."

He knew that his sister would, she had always been capable of doing things that others would balk at in order to survive, he had always admired that about her, how fierce she was. It suddenly struck him how utterly different the Dornish princess and Cersei were, Elia was quiet and had looked so small in the chair she had been sat in and looked so fragile, almost like a sudden gust of wind would knock her other and shatter against the ground in a million pieces.

Cersei was so strong, her skin looked fragile but it was not made of porcine, it was made of steel, she would never break for anything but there was little kindness in her and the little there was, it was all for him and he couldn't deny that thought pleased him or at least it would if she hadn't tried often to shower her affection on Rhaegar.

"He has no power and she was going to marry the prince and be the queen, she will do anything to get it back." Cersei said, more as a mutter to herself than to him. "I won't let her Jamie, Rhaegar is mine and I am going to be the princess, the real princess and then I am going to be the queen, she can't have any of it. I am going to kill her if she even tries."

"Careful, the walls have ears and we really do not want a to start a diplomatic incident with both Dorne and the North." Jamie pointed out as he reached out to stroke her hair, it always used to calm her when they were younger.

"You think I care about the North or Dorne?" Cersei asked with a scoff and pulled away from his touch, either not noticing or not caring how his face fell as she did so.

"I think you will care when both their armies are marching on us and her uncle who is in the Kingsguard comes for your head in the night, and while I might be able to protect you from him maybe, I won't be able to protect you from Arthur Dayne." Jamie was a skilled swordsman, he was an excellent one in fact but he wouldn't stand a chance against the sword of the morning, he would kill him in a matter of moments.

Of course, Ser Arthur and Ser Lewyn were both knights of the Kingsguard and were sworn only to protect and serve the king but he knew that there was only so much a man could before his loyalties were tested, Ser Lewyn was Elia's uncle and Ser Arthur was the elder brother of one of Elia's closest friends Ashara Dayne.

They would do anything for her, Jamie would do anything for Cersei no matter what vows he swore to the king, there would be fame in being a Kingsguard of course, ever since he was a child he would dream about raising to their ranks and becoming a knight, fighting alongside his heroes but he would threw it all away for his sister, if that was what she asked of him.

If Cersei heard his warning then she did not seem at all concerned about it, instead she stood up and began to pace back and forth as she played with her hands, muttering to herself once again. Jamie sighed heavily and stood up before he put her arms around her waist to hold her still and pressed a kiss to her neck. "Calm down." He breathed into her ear before he pressed another kiss to her flawless skin.

"I don't want her here, she's going to ruin everything." Cersei said quietly and frowned heavily but she did not resist or try and pull away so Jamie simply kept lavishing her with attention, it had been months since he had been allowed to do this and he was going to treasure every single moment of it.

For a few brief moments the two of them simply stood together and Jamie saw her face relax and he couldn't help but smirk, more that a little proud of himself. Just as he was about to unlace the strings at the back of her dress there was a sudden loud rapping at the door and Cersei jolted out of his arms and Jamie frowned heavily.

"My lady, may I come in?" A sweet voice said on the other side of the door and once Cersei was certain that she was completely composed she called for whoever it was to come in, the door opened and one of Cersei's handmaidens came through into the room. She was certainly no great beauty but with her sandy blond hair and amber eyes she was certainly not unpleasant to look at.

"Forgive me for bothering you my lady but you told me to come to you with anything that seemed important?" The young woman began nervously, any one with a hint of sanity would be nervous when speaking to his sister, what she had done to that other handmaiden had spread quickly among her other handmaidens and now all of them were terrified of upsetting her.

"What is it?" Cersei asked as she stepped further away from Jamie and looked straight at the girl.

"I saw one of Queen Rhaella's ladies escorting Princess Elia to the Queen's chambers in the Maidenvault and later on she was leaving, they must have been talking for quite awhile." As soon as the handmaiden had finished speaking Cersei's posture had grown stiff and she was clearly trying to fight off a scream.

"Get out." Was what Cersei finally said and the handmaiden rushed to obey her lady's command, rushing out of the room and shutting the door behind her. Cersei breathed deeply and Jamie came over to put a hand on her shoulder to try and offer some comfort but she violently shrugged it off but she suddenly turned to face him, the look in her eyes sparking a fear in him.

"Do you see, she is going to see the Queen!" Cersei screamed hysterically, tears of rage and frustration building in her eyes. "The old woman hates me, she looks through me as if I am not there most of the time and the few times she does actually see me, she looks at me like something that she stepped in. She hates me and she wants Elia to be Rhaegar's queen, they both plotting against me!"

Jamie did not say that he did not think that the queen was the sort of person to ever look down on someone, it would just upset her more. "Even if they are it doesn't matter, King Aerys wants you to marry Rhaegar and from what we've seen I don't think it matters what anyone else plots, if he wants you to marry his son then that it is what's going to happen."

It hurt beyond anything to admit any of that but it didn't matter when he saw that his words had soothed her a little but she still seemed anxious. "The queen does hate me, I know it so. And Rhaegar's little brother is a beast and a terror, how anyone could stand that boy for more than a minute is beyond me and Elia has known Rhaegar since they were children, she could convince him to set me aside."

Jamie was just about to tell her that wouldn't happen but he didn't get the chance as he noticed his sister's eyes widening and small smug smile spread across her face, she had an idea.

"Jamie, I need Elia gone. Kill her for me." Cersei whispered as she smiled adoringly at her brother, reaching out to stroke his face.

Jamie reeled back at stared at her with utter disbelief, not that she wanted the princess dead to be certain, Cersei wanted a lot of people dead and most of those people now were but had she not heard a single word about what he had just said about having two armies march on them? And worst of all, she wanted him to do it? Had she taken leave of all her senses?

"Do it for me, get rid of her." Cersei said, it started to sound less like a request and much more like a command to Jamie's ears.

"I can't." Jamie said, practically pleading with his sister to understand. "Cersei if people knew we were even speaking of this, we could be killed. She isn't trying to usurp you. I am sure of it."

"How can you be sure?" Cersei asked with a heavy frown. "She could be planning and scheming right not to take everything I have ever wanted, everything that is mine by rite. Father promised me ever since I was old enough to remember that I would be the queen, he has promised it to me time and time again and I am so close Jamie. We are so close! Think of Father if not of me, do you truly want him to be disappointed in you if I am set aside?"

There were few things worse in this world that bearing Tywin Lannister's anger, bearing his disappointment would certainly be close to the top of the list. Jamie sighed heavily and locked his eyes with his sister's. "Why me? Why can't you ask one of the guards to do it, they seemed to be quick to follow your commands when you had them murder that girl."

"I can not trust them Jamie, someone could get to them. Someone could speak and let it all be ruined or they might be to scared to deal with her, a handmaiden is one thing but a daughter of one the great houses, from the ruling house of Dorne? That is an entirely different manner. You're loyal Jamie, to me, to Father, to House Lannister. I can trust you to do this." Cersei said as she stepped towards him and cupped his cheek, caressing it with her thumb.

Was he all she said? Loyal to her and Father and House Lannister, yes, yes he was but was this what he had to do to prove it. Murder a woman who had done nothing wrong simply to prove it to her, simply to reassure her that there were no threats to her reign. "How would I even do it? She spends most of her time either with her husband or with her brother, I think they are likely going to complain if I walk up to her and shove a sword through her chest."

Cersei was silent as she thought on it and then opened her mouth. "Seduce her."

"What!?"

"Seduce her." Cersei repeated, if she noticed her brother's incredulous expression then she did not comment on it. "It won't be difficult, you're so handsome and Eddard Stark looks like a horse that was turned into a man. The dornish whore would love a bit of attention, then you can deal with her as soon as you see fit, but make sure it's done before the tourney. I want her out of the way before father comes."

Jamie suddenly felt extremely tired, as if all he wanted to do was lie down and sleep and not awaken for a thousand nights. "Cersei, what happens if I get caught?"

"You won't get caught, your too smart to get caught." Cersei said with a bright smile. "I know you can do it and I will beg Rhaegar and the King to show mercy even if you do, your the heir of Castery Rock. They can't kill you, Father won't let them."

Jamie wanted to shake her and scream that wouldn't work, if he was found out both the North and Dorne would want his head on a pike and Rhaegar was Elia's friend, he wouldn't want him dead as well not to mention Ser Arthur and Ser Lewyn. Two of the seven kingdoms and they would turn against the rest, the kingdoms would burn. Could she not see how dangerous this was to all of them? Before he could say anything like that however her soft voice brought him out of his troubled thoughts.

"Please Jamie, do this for me. Please?" She and Jamie sighed heavily and bent his head, silently saying a prayer to the Seven for the first time in a very long time before he looked up to met her eyes once again.

"Alright Cersei, alright."

End of Chapter Twenty-Three.

* * *

 **Okay so, in case anyone is wondering Cersei is aware of her father's plans with Rhaegar, as in the last chapter where the twins featured she gave her future husband a message, but she's letting her paranoia and jealousy get the best of her, Jamie is not aware of their father's plans other wise he would most likely have not said yes to what she asked.**

 **Next chapter will be the tourney and will be told from Ned's perspective...Will he compete? Guess you will have to wait and see.**

 **Please review, favourite and follow and leave constructive criticism.**

 **Ta for now!**

 **Doctorwhofan12345**


	24. Chapter 24

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Four.

It was a beautiful clear morning with the sun shinning high in the sky, the field outside of King's Landing next to the river was crowded with dozens of tents of all colours, shapes and sizes. They seemed to stretch out to the horizon and beyond it.

There were also dozens and dozens of house banners, some Ned recognised as he, Elia, Oberyn and Oberyn's daughters were walking in between the tents, the golden rose of House Tyrell, the grapes of House Redwyne, the falcon and moon of House Arryn, the silver sun of House Karstark, the merman of House Manderly, the roaring giant of House Umber, the bear of House Mormont, The red trout of House Tully, though Catelyn was still in the north with Brandon and there was no sign of Lysa either, the towers of House Frey, the black portcullis of House Yronwood, the falling star of House Danye, and the stag of House Baratheon, though Ned was disappointed when he heard that Robert had appreantly decided not to come and had sent his younger brother Stannis in his place.

There were dozens he did not recognise, a purple unicorn on silver, a golden pyramid with a sun on blue, a lamb holding a golden goblet on a green field and a burning tree on a field of grey. Ned learned a great deal about the noble houses of Westeros from Lord Arryn and his father but most of his knowledge was more centred around the houses of the North and the Vale.

When he had learned that he was to marry Elia he had decided to learn more about his wife's houses and from Robert he had learned a little more of the houses of the Stormlands though it wasn't quite more than what he already knew, Robert was apparently not the most involved Lord Paramount of his part of the seven kingdoms.

When it came to the other kingdoms most of his knowledge was limited to the great houses and their most powerful allies as it was often hard to keep track of all the other houses from all the kingdoms.

"Why do I have to where this?" Obara's affronted voice brought Ned out of his thoughts and he turned his head to look back at her, he couldn't not help but grin a little at the large frown on her face as she tried to walk in the green and quite poufy dress she had been forced into.

It reminded him of Lyanna.

The thought of his sister made him feel sad, it had been long time since they had left Winterfell and he missed her so much, he missed all of them. He missed his father and wondered if he was still alright from his attack, he had received a letter from Lya and she had written that he was doing much better but he would feel better when he got to see his father with his own eyes.

It wasn't that he didn't believe his sister's word, it was just that Lyanna had been trying to be brave for the rest of them ever since their father had collapsed and she wouldn't want to worry him.

He missed Brandon, his big brother. He could almost see him riding a horse and laughing loudly, his eyes filled with joy with a pretty maid in his arms. He missed Benjen, his baby brother who was coming along so well with a sword and kind eyes.

He missed Winterfell. He missed home.

"You have to wear it because we are the Queen's guests." His wife responded to her niece, her voice was gentle and kind as always but there was a hint of iron in it as well that showed that she would bare no arguments about the fact. "Therefore, you are going to wear a dress because it is the polite thing to do and you do not want to disrespect her, I promise that as soon as the tourney is over for the day you may go back to wearing a doublet and trousers."

Obara kept frowning but said nothing else as she kept up her pace, Ned smiled and reached out and took Elia's hand and his smile grew when Elia smiled back at him and pressed his hand to her stomach. Her stomach had grown but she was still small, he had found himself wishing for the moment when the child would have the legs to kick.

He had the vaguest memories of feeling his mother's stomach when she had been carrying Benjen and how he had laughed and laughed when he felt his unborn brother kicking inside of her, the little fluttering kick barely there but he had felt them all the same.

Elia would be a lovely mother, he had seen all the truth of that when he saw her interact with Obara, Nymeria and Tyene, any child would be lucky to have her as a mother. He just hoped that he would be able to say the same of himself when it came to being a father.

It wasn't that he didn't like children or that he wouldn't enjoy being a father, when Elia told him that she was with child it had been one of the happiest moments of his life after all. But he wasn't sure what sort of parent he would actually be, he had never truly dealt with very young children before, he was Brandon's younger brother and for a great portion of Lya and Ben's childhood while he was fostered up at the Eyrie.

He wanted to be a good father, more than anything.

He was brought out of his increasingly melancholy thoughts by Oberyn's laughter. "Come now Obara, stop your frowning." He said with a smirk as carried Tyene one handed and held's Nymeria's with his other. "It is hardly the end of the world now is it? If you promise to be on your best behaviour then I will promise that tonight you and I will spar until you are tired."

That seemed to brighten the sullen girl's mood, she did not smile but she did stop frowning and she did seem to pick up her pace a little. Oberyn hummed his satisfaction and began to whistle a tune under his breath.

They passed by another dozen or so tents before they reached the large royal tent, a gigantic purple beast that stood apart from the rest of the tents and seemed to stretch into the sky, in front of tent flew the Targaryen banner, the three headed read dragon on black. Next to it stood the golden lion of House Lannister, to symbolise the fact that both houses would soon be joined.

Behind the tent the Direwolf of House Stark and the speared sun of House Martell were flying in the breeze, to announce to all the world they were the royal families honoured guests. Said honoured guests walked into the tent, two servants standing outside the royal tent holding the heavy velvet flaps aside so they could walk inside.

A servant waiting inside the tent announced them all. "Presenting Lord Eddard Stark, second born son of Lord Rickard Stark. His wife the Lady Elia Nymeros Martell, Princess of Dorne and her brother, Prince Oberyn Nymeros Martell, Prince of Dorne and his baseborn daughters, Obara Sand, Nymeria Sand and Tyene Sand, honoured guests of Queen Rhaella."

As soon as the servant had finished announcing them the king himself turned to look at them for a moment before he scoffed and turned his head, he was the first thing that caught Ned's attention in the tentbut it was not a difficult task, he was sitting in a large chair made of ironwood that looked almost as uncomfortable as the iron throne in the middle of a slightly raise platform. He looked terrible, his silver hair was ragged and messy and there were splotches of dirt that told Ned that it hadn't been washed in weeks as well as large knots, his purple eyes narrowed when they came in and his fists gripped the armrests of his chair tightly, his nails which were so long they were starting to curl threaten crack right off.

Sitting next to him in a smaller chair was the queen, she was dressed in lovely purple dress and her long silver hair was pulled back into a simple plat with not a hair out of place, there was a simple gold tiara with a green emerald set in it atop her head and a golden necklace around her neck with a single diamond set in that. She smiled a warm smile as soon as they came in.

Standing in front of their parents was the Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, he was beautiful even Ned could admit that, with long silver hair like his mother and striking violet eyes and delicate features that somehow did not seem at all weak, it was quite easy for Ned to see why all the girls in the seven kingdoms wanted him other than the fact he was the prince, and Prince Viserys Targaryen who seemed bored out of his wits as he held on to his elder brother's hand and swung back and forth on his feet.

They were only four of the seven Kingsguard in the tent at the moment, The Lord Commander Gerold Hightower, Ser Barristan Selmy. Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Lewyn Martell. The four men were still as statues but Ned was certain that he saw Ser Arthur's eyes lighten slightly when they landed on Elia and that he saw Ser Lewyn's stance relax ever so slightly.

The other guests of honour were already inside the tent, Cersei Lannister was even more beautiful than her future husband to be, with her long golden hair and green eyes the two of them made quite a pair, she was dressed in a black dress with red lace around the sleeves and the neckline of the dress, she was clearly taking great pride in wearing her future husband's colours as she walked over to him and put her arm around his, not even seeming to notice that they had entered or if she did then she did not much care.

Jamie Lannister was standing by a long table, straining with the weight of the food it carried, with a goblet of wine clutched in his hand with displeased frown on his face. He was dressed in a red tunic with a golden lion emblazoned over the breast.

The fact he was here unnerved Ned, it wasn't that he wasn't expecting the man to be here as of course he would given that it was his sister that was marrying into the royal family. It was simply that recently Ned could not seem to turn a corner or look over his shoulder and not see the golden Lannister standing there waiting for him, and for Elia. While Jamie had always been polite to Ned it seemed to be Elia that he was more interested in.

He always spoke with much more interest, more passion to her. He always tried to make her laugh and more often than not he succeeded.

And didn't that thought just make his blood boil? He had never thought of himself as a jealous man but for every laugh that escaped from Elia's mouth, for each smile she graced the Lannister boy with all Ned wanted to do was slam his fist into his face till he didn't look quite so pretty anymore.

Perhaps he had gotten a bit more of the wolf blood than he had thought?

He saw him smirk slowly when he saw Elia and again, in that moment all Ned wanted to do was punch him. He looked like he was going to walk over and start to say something but he was stopped when the King spoke, his voice was low and seemed to be raspy with misuse and it took all Ned had not to shudder when he heard the barely supressed anger in his words.

"It would seem my former Hand thinks it wise to keep me waiting." The king said as his features darkened to match the anger in his voice, his purple eyes turning nearly black as he gazed around the tent. Seemingly intent to find something that would displease him that he could pounce upon.

His eyes eventually landed on Cersei. "Tell me, "Good daughter" What excuse can you provide for your father's absence? Why does he think it wise to keep me waiting?"

To the Lannister girl's credit she did not flinch or cower under the gaze and showed no sign of any fear at the rage that was barely supressed even as Rhaegar tried to make her step back and her future good mother could barely stop from shaking. "I am certain that my father is not meaning to cause you any offense your grace, he would never do such a thing. I am certain that he will be here any moment."

"He had better be." He muttered as he glanced all around the room. "I've given Tywin everything, I allowed him to serve as my Hand. I made him the second most powerful man in all seven kingdoms. And I allowed him to have Joanna."

That last word seemed to have robbed the tent of all it's air, the queen tensed and closed her eyes suddenly looking so very weary, Elia took hold of Ned's hand and squeezed which he squeezed back. Oberyn muttered something to his daughters which Ned couldn't make it out but he was sure that it was something along the lines of telling them all to be very quiet.

The crown prince was clearly trying to find a way to both placate his father and pull his future wife away while his little brother was whimpering fearfully, clutching his older brother's pant leg and burying his face into it.

Jamie Lannister was standing to the side, looking completely confused at the King's words while his sister simply kept standing there with a happy smile on her face, only the slightest tensing of her fingers giving Ned any indication that the king's words had affected her.

And through out it all the four knights of the kingsguard simply stood, as silent as statues and did not show any reaction to any of the words that their king had uttered. They were not orders and thus were not important.

"Did you know about that, that he stole your mother from me? She was supposed to be mine, she had no right to deny me. I was the king and see was only a lady of the queen, she was sent back to Casterly Rock without my leave. Tywin was jealous of me and her, he saw her falling in love with me and he could not have it." The king said, his voice rising with intensity and spittle flew out of his mouth.

"I..am sure that my lord father did not mean to offend your grace in anyway." Cersei began but it was clear that did not know how to continue for a moment as her eyes glanced around the tent for a moment, perhaps looking for a way to escape. Her eyes suddenly landed on the queen and the nervous smile was rather quickly replaced with an arrogant smirk when her eyes landed on the queen. "But, if your grace would excuse me for mentioning it, I would remind you that it was not my father who sent my mother back to Casterly Rock. The queen dismissed her from her service and she obviously could not stay in King's Landing after that."

There was sharp intake of breath from the queen who had adopted a look of shock, the shock quickly faded and was soon replaced with a look of what could only be described a mix rage and utter dread, rage at the Lannister girl and utter dread at her mad husband's reaction.

The king was silent, he simply stared at Cersei for a moment before he smiled, showing all of his teeth. He turned his face towards his wife and reached out to stroke his wife's face, though there was no tenderness in the gesture. "Yes, yes you did. Didn't you Rhaella? Tell us all, why did you do that? Joanna was your friend wasn't she? Your closest friend aside from that Dornish whore."

There was sudden gasp from Elia and Ned turned his head to look at her, seeing the pain on his wife's face from hearing how cruelly her mother was described felt like a dagger in his heart and for a brief moment he wanted to take a dagger and plant it in to the Mad King's own heart. But his own cooler temper prevails and he realises that he could not do that if he planned on leaving King's Landing alive.

Ser Lewyn's expressionless face was twisted in anger for just a moment at hearing the King he swore himself too describe his sister in such a way but it only lasted that moment before it completely faded, like it had never been there at all.

It was Oberyn that had the biggest reaction, he set Tyene down on the ground next to his sisters and began to walk over to the raised platform. Before he could get so close that the king could notice and the kingsguard could do little more than tightening their fingers around the hilts of their swords Ned reached out and quickly grabbed his arm to stop him from taking another step.

Oberyn turned his head to glare at him but Ned did not even slightly loosen the grip, he simply shook his head. Elia stepped forward and pressed her hand to her brother's arm and shook her head as well. Oberyn sighed softly, took a breath and then took a step back.

"We're all waiting for your answer my sweet wife. Why did you send such a dear friend away, answer me. Look at me!" The king roared as he roughly grasped her chin and forced her to look at him. "Why did you send her away?" He repeated.

"Because I can tolerate a great deal from you Aerys, but I would not have you turning one of my ladies, my friend, into your whore." The queen spat and the tent was filled with a shocked silence and none was more shocked than the king himself as he stared wide eyes at his wife. The shock soon turned to rage and he drew back his hand and slapped Queen Rhaella so hard across the face that her head snapped back, she turned back to look at him with a straight face and a purple bruise rapidly forming on her cheek.

"Father! Please that's enough!" Rhaegar shouted as he stepped forward, the king whirled around to face his firstborn who seemed to take the look with the same bravery as his mother. "What does any of this matter now? This was decades hence. The lady Joanna is long since gone and we have guests, a king and queen should not disagree in front of their most loyal subjects."

The king looked like he was going to say something but at the last moment seemed to change his mind, contenting himself by muttering something so low that only he and his wife could hear. Rhaegar sighed, sounding equal parts relived and exhausted before he turned to his future wife and whispered into her ear before leading her away from his parents, taking Viserys with them.

Ned, Elia, Oberyn and his daughters followed them over to the long table, none of them caring that king had not officially greeted them. "Hello Prince Viserys, do you remember me?" Elia asked the small boy as she let go of Ned's hand and knelt in front of him.

The little prince frowned a little as he stared at Elia for a moment before he began to speak. "Your princess Elia, you were supposed to marry Rhaegar instead of Lady Cersei, why didn't you?" He asked as he glanced back at his future good sister and Ned couldn't be sure but he thought that his frown seemed to darken.

"Father decided that it was best that Princess Elia and I married different people Viserys, that it would be better for us and better for the kingdoms." Rhaegar explained to his younger brother gently as he leaned down to ruffle his hair.

"I still think you should be marrying her instead." The bluntness of the statement caught everyone by surprise but it made Oberyn let out a snort of laughter, coloured Cersei Lannister's face red and made Elia grant the small boy a gentle smile.

Elia stood to her feet and stepped towards Cersei Lannister and Ned followed behind her, he got the sense that the Lannister woman was far more dangerous than she appeared and even in a tent filled with people he would not let her face the woman alone.

"You look very beautiful Lady Cersei, such a lovely dress and Targaryen colours suit you." Elia said as she stepped close, pressing a kiss to both of her cheeks before she stepped back.

Cersei smiled at her and reached out to take her hands. "How very kind you are, that's all anyone ever says about you. How utterly kind you are. And thank you, I made this dress myself when I had a bit of spare time. You wouldn't believe how busy I've been since I came to King's Landing, I imagine that when Rhaegar and I are married I will become even busier."

"True, you will be a princess soon. We will have something in common." Elia said warmly, a gentle smile on her face.

"Yes." Responded Cersei with a hum before she pulled her hands away from Elia's. "But of course I am going to be the queen one day, you're a princess but only really in name considering your married to man that is below your station and your rank can not be greater than his. In a matter of fact since you married to him you technically aren't a princess any more, are you? You're a lady."

Elia's face fell for a moment and she seemed lost at what to say in reply to that, Cersei gave a small smirk and turned to walk away. Elia reached down and way playing with her wedding ring and Ned couldn't help but sigh, it was true that Elia had in fact married down and her title was no longer princess but in fact lady and it opened some old wounds for him. He wasn't even the first son so it was not as if he could even give her Winterfell.

He these thoughts fled his mind when he felt delicate fingers intertwine with his own and he looked up to see Elia smiling at him kindly with eyes full of love as she guided his hand to rest over her stomach where their child was growing. "I am happy with you, I love you more than anything in this world." Elia said in a low voice so that none would hear the words that were just for him and for just a moment he forget that it wasn't only the two of them in this tent. "You must know that."

"I do. And I love you." Ned whispered as he leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips while his hand stroked her stomach gently.

 _"I only wish that I was worthy of that love, worthy of you."_ His mind whispered to him treacherously but he did not pay it any heed, simply kept kissing his wife and not caring what anyone thought of the public display of affection. Not caring when he was fairly sure when he felt someone glaring at him and not caring wither it was Cersei Lannister, her brother, her betrothed or even the king himself.

The silence of the tent was suddenly broken by the sound of a loud trumpet, it was so sudden that the surprise of it caused Ned and Elia to break apart as they both turned there heads towards the entrance of the tent. The heavy velvet flaps were pulled apart and four figures walked in and the servant began to announce them.

"Presenting Lord Tywin Lannister firstborn son of Lord Tytos Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, shield of Lannisport, Warden of the West and Lord Paramount of the Westerlands." The servant had to take a moment to catch his breath from rattling off all the titles that the one man had possessed before continuing. Also presenting Lord Kevan Lannister and their sister, the lady Genna Frey and Lord Tyrion Lannister son of Lord Tywin, honoured guests of King Areys, the second of his name."

Now that the announcements had finished Ned could take in all who stood before them, everyone's eyes were of course drawn to the Lord of Casterly Rock himself. Tywin Lannister may have been older than Ned's father but he did not at all seem to be at all frail or feeling his age, his golden hair was still full and his green eyes were piercing, them seem to bore into you and expose every secret in your soul. This was a man who would do anything for his own advancement and the advancement of his family and everyone know that and respected it.

And feared it as well. You would have to be an utter fool not to fear Tywin Lannister.

Or utterly mad.

His brother Kevan was almost an utter contrast to him, where Tywin was sharp Kevan seemed softer, where Tywin's eyes were harsh his seemed softer, where his brother gave off an aura of authority and intimidation he gave off an aura of simple desire to follow and being content with where he was. But Ned knew that did not mean the second son was weak or naïve, he was still a dangerous man but perhaps not as dangerous or at least not as ruthless as his brother.

Lady Genna was a fat woman, there was no point in going around it she was a very fat woman. She was not quite as large as say Lord Manderly or some of his sons but she was still a large woman. Still, this did not make her any less beautiful or any less dangerous than any Lannister and Ned was certain that he could see glimpses of an intellect that was the match of either of her brothers and perhaps even surpassed them.

Then finally it came to Tyrion Lannister himself, the killer of his mother. The imp. Even in the north they had heard all of the stories, that Joanna Lannister had born her own death and death took the form of a hideous monster, scaled green skin and leathery wings with a tail and teeth like dagger blades and red eyes that burned like coals.

The stories were wrong, it was just man who was little more than a boy. His head was a little too big for his body, his limbs were a bit short and his eyes were mismatched but other than that just a man. Not an unattractive one if someone looked past his height but of course very few people would be able to do that.

Cersei stormed over to her family, her brother following after her. "What are you doing here?" She practically spat at her younger brother who looked up at her with a smirk and something twinkling in his mismatched eyes.

"Sweet sister, this entire tourney is for you. I would not be able to live with myself if I missed this, oh of course I had to beg our dear father to allow me to come but as I am here now would you not grant me a kiss of your dearest affection." The young man's words were dripping with mockery and for a moment it looked as though Cersei would slap her brother across the face but at the last moment she remembered that she was being watched so she quickly ducked and pressed a kiss to his cheek before she stood back to her full height.

"Where are Uncle Tygett and Uncle Gerion?" Jamie asked his father after he had stood up from greeting his brother with a warm embrace and his sister had went on to greeting her aunt and her uncle.

"I left Tygett in charge of Casterly Rock until I return and Gerion went off on another fool's errand before I could stop him." Tywin replied to his son as he examined his son for a moment. "You look well, that is good. Have you found someone you think may be a worthy bride?"

Jamie shook his head and the former hand of the king shook his head before stepping past his eldest son and knelt before the King and Queen. "Your Grace, my Queen." He spoke low, his voice the picture of nothing but willingness to serve. "I am grateful for your invitation."

"I trust that you are grateful to me Tywin?" The king asked, a smirk playing on his lips. "I changed my mind and allowed my heir to be married to the daughter of my servant, never let it be said that I am not kind and I do not reward loyalty. You are loyal to me, aren't you Tywin?"

"Of course Your Grace." Lord Tywin said lowly and Ned was fairly certain that he could hear just a trace of anger in his voice but he couldn't be sure but he was certain that if he was as proud as it was said that Lord Tywin was then he would be more than angry, he would be furious. "Truly, this is a glorious day. Soon our houses will be united as they always should have been."

The king hummed but said no more and then queen stood to her feet. "I do believe that we should take our place in the stands, everyone else will be ready? Shall we go husband."

"Yes, yes, yes." The king stood to his feet and even that clearly took a great deal of effort but still he managed to do it. "Let us get this over with."

The group began to leave the large tent and waiting outside were two litters, Aerys got into one and Rhaella entered hers, Viserys following her in and Rhaegar being ordered to join his father, and the servants began to carry them to the stands, the rest of the group had to content themselves with walking but it did not take them long to reached the stands. As guests of the royal family they would be sitting next to a raised platform where the king and queen would be sitting.

Rhaegar was sitting to the right of his father and the Lannisters were sitting next to him, his betrothed sitting rather close to him. Ned, Elia and Oberyn and his daughters were sitting to the left of the queen, who had Viserys sat in her lap. The servants were just finishing preparing everything for the joust which would be the last event of the tourney.

Soon the rest of the stalls began to fill with people, dozens, hundreds of noble lords and ladies dressed in coloured silk and smelling of flowers, it made Ned's nose itch. There was the sound of armoured feet approaching and Ned looked up to see the other three members of the Kingsguard, Ser Oswell Whent who Ned could only recognise from the black bat on his helm, Ser Jonothor Darry who was an unpleasant looking man with his white helm tucked under his arm and Ser Harlan Grandson who was quite possibly the oldest looking man that Ned had ever seen, he looked older than his grandfather had done on his deathbed but he did not look frail, if Ned ever had to fight him then he did not think that he would win.

The first event of the day was the archery competition, there were four oversized targets set up on the field across from the stands. The goal was for the for the thirty-six competitors to hit the centre of the target or as close to it as they could, the first eighteen with the highest scores would go on to the next round. During said round the targets would be moved further back in the field to make it more of a challenge. The prize for the event would be two hundred gold dragons

Those eighteen would then be picked until there were nine and then those nine would be sorted into three groups of three and they would be forced to compete against each other and then one from each group would be put up against one another, to form a final three. The final three would then have to take aim at a target and hit the bull's-eye dead in the centre and they would only have the one shot to make it, if they missed then they would be disqualified and the victor would be whoever hit the target if the other two missed.

The competition took a great deal of time, the sun was slowly beginning to turn orange and Tyene was now fast asleep in her father's arms and from what Ned could see it looked as though the young prince would not be far behind her either, his eyes dropping shut and his head nodding.

Eventually however the final three archers were all that was left, the first was a tall man with skin as black as cold and with a shaved head. His name was Xobla Za and he was a prince of the summer islands, he was dressed in red and gold silk and his bow was half his height and while it was made of wood that seemed to shine like gold when it was hit by the sun and into the wood were carved elaborate designs.

By comparison the man standing next to him was quite plan, he was short for a man not even reaching six feet in height and he was quite plan to look at, dull brown hair and grey eyes with a long face, he was lean bodied as much from training with the bow as much as he was from being underfed his entire life. At a glance he looked a little like a Stark. His name was Edric Waters, a lowborn bastard but that had not stopped him from reaching the final three competitors, he was dressed in plan boiled brown leathers and held a simple bow made of a brown wood.

The final competitor was quite a strange sight, it was a noble from one of the free cities but it had been so long since the event had started that Ned couldn't remember which one he hailed from, Myr perhaps nor could he actually remember his name. While his opponents were both leanly muscled he was quite a fat man, he was dressed in purple and green silks and his long red hair was tied back into a braid and had rings on all of his fingers, he had an awful smell about him like dead flowers. His bow was the only thing that could mark him as competing in the competition, it was a dark black and for a moment Ned thought it was made of iron but then he realised what it actually was with soft gasp.

It was dragonbone.

The man was obviously extremely wealth, to say that Dragonbone was rare would be like saying it was unusual to have a wilding woman as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, it was beyond a rarity and too see such a thing crafted into a bow was almost utterly impossible.

And so it began, the Xobla Za was first as he stood at his mark. He drew back the string of the bow and released his arrow. It flew through the air and embedded itself into the target but only into the third ring of the target. There was a soft applause through out the stands and the Prince stood back from the mark.

Next to take the mark was the nobleman, he raised his bow and Ned realised that while there was a great deal of fat about him there was a strength in his arms, a hint of muscle that might've been there once as he lifted his dragonbone bow, drew back the string and let the arrow fly. It hit sure, the arrow struck the target right in the centre and this time the applause was anything but soft as it reminded him a little of thunder.

Oberyn had to settle Tyene as she was disturbed by the loud applause and once she was calm again Edric Waters took his place at the mark, he would not win of course as the centre had already been struck but it spoke well of him that he decided to take his shot anyway instead of simply standing down.

The boy took a deep breath and held up his bow, released his arrow and it struck exactly where the boy had wanted it to go, splitting the shaft of the nobleman's arrow and burying itself into the centre of the target. For a few moments everyone who had been watching were dumbstruck about what had just happened.

And then there was applause that sounded even louder than what had come before and in between there were shouts and loud cheers at what they had just seen. The lowborn bastard ducked his head and in fairness to the prince of the summer isles and the noblemen of the free cities neither of them seemed extremely upset they had lost and congratulated the boy.

The boy was given the winner's purse and the nobleman was given the runner up prize of five hundred silver and all three men then left the field. By now however it was late and the king decreed that there would be a feast now and the melee and the joust would be held on the morrow.

The stands emptied slowly and their occupants made there way to another field where several large tents were grouped together, inside each of the tents were several large tables overflowing with food. Several large boars which had been roasted in goose fat with apples shoved into their mouths, served on a bed of green leaves, red beats and pine nuts.

Sliver trays were loaded down with thick slices of venison, bowls were filled with spiced boiled eggs and there were plates topped with dozens of baked pies, filled with venison, pork, beef and rabbit meat and were stuffed with vegetables such as peas, onions and carrots.

There were several trout as well, some were baked in clay and Ned needed Elia to help him crack through the clay and he tried not to blush in embarrassment as he asked her to show him and how effortlessly she did it, the rest of trout was either rubbed in hot spices from the free cities that made your tongue burn or were wrapped in sweet bacon or were coated and baked in bread crumbs.

And there were cakes and pies and tarts as well, lemon cakes topped with lavender icing and frosted with suger, honey cakes that were drowning in the sweet stuff and sticky to the touch, there were blackberry cakes that were moist to the touch and filled you mouth with flavour, the tarts were filled with lemon curd, blackberry jam and sweetened pumpkin.

There was wine and ale by the dozen, dornish reds and arbour golds and sweet summer wines as well. The ale was dark and the mead was sweet and sticky. Needless to say it would not be long until the people in the tent would be all well and truly drunk.

Ned, Elia, Oberyn and his daughters were all sitting at the high table along with the king, queen, their sons and the Lannisters. Ned had his hand wrapped around a mug of dark ale which he had only half finished and Elia only allowed herself to have cups of warm water, Oberyn was on his third glass of Dornish Red and Obara was allowed to have one as well as her sisters contented themselves with milk with honey.

Cersei Lannister had a great deal more wine than any of them and her aunt muttered something to her youngest nephew which caused the little man to roar with laughter but his sister was too drunk and too infatuated with the prince to pay it any heed, she kept mentioning how she could not wait for the joust tomorrow and the prince simply smiled and nodded and said yes to everything she said.

The queen explained why the future princess seemed so excited about the event. "Rhaegar will be participating in the joust, when he wins he will crown Cersei the queen of love and beauty to officially announce that they are to be married to all those who are in attendance."

Suddenly the queen gained a look of melancholy and she glanced back at her husband before she returned her gaze to her guests. "I was crowned the queen of love and beauty, when I was a little younger."

"By the king?" Elia asked gently although her voice held a note of disbelief.

"No." The queen admitted before she continued. "Areys was not the king then, he was still just a prince and I was still just the princess. I was crowned by a gallant man, a kind man, a good man." She said with a fond smile on her face as she cast her thoughts back. "I would've married him, had my father allowed it but he wanted me to marry Areys." Her smiled had fallen away as she took a deep drink of wine from her goblet.

From then on there was no more conversation and the night was only filled with singing, laughing, cursing and the sound of eating. Edric Waters was sitting near the high table as a mark of honour, both of his rivals were sitting next to him as his guests, and he was laughing louder than anyone as singer named him as Edric the Brown for the colour of his hair, leathers and bow.

Eventually the night grew late and it was time for all to rest otherwise there would be no events, Ned had to carry Elia as while she had not drunk anything she was quite tired from the long night and he did not wish to risk her falling to the ground and hurting herself or the baby. Oberyn was also forced to carry Tyene who had been fast asleep for an hour now despite all the noise in the tent and Nymeria as well who had fallen asleep in her chair after the king had ended the feast.

Ned placed Elia down in the bed that had been set up in their bed and climbed in after her, wrapping his arms around her as soon as her was fully in. "Are you enjoying the tourney?" He asked her gently as he stroked the bottom of her back, it had started to ache lately as she began to put on the weight she would need to carry the babe and he knew it eased the pain if he stroked there.

"I am." Elia said softly, her eyes were closed and Ned knew that it wouldn't be long until she was dreaming. "I love the north, you know I do but forget all the sounds of a tourney, all the colours and the smells and how alive everything is. The gallantry and the knights and the excitement, I have missed this all a great deal but please know I wouldn't trade you for anything. You do know that, don't you?"

"I do." Ned said softly before he pressed a kiss to Elia's forehead, his lovely wife hummed her approval and then after a few moments her breathing evened out and she was dead to the world, Ned sighed softly and closed his eyes as he held her tightly.

It was Oberyn who awoke them, the man was standing above his bed and looking down at them with smirk. "Come along now you two, I would surely love to remain in bed but we would not want to disappoint out queen now would we? We our her honoured guests after all."

Elia replied by throwing a pillow at her brother's face and Ned couldn't stop himself from laughing until his sides hurt.

Eventually the two of them did manage to get out of bed though it was with a great deal of reluctance on both sides and they all made their way to the stands, they took their seats from the day before as the king, queen and the Lannisters were already there, apart from Prince Rhaegar and Jamie Lannister of all people. The field which had been used for the archery competition was now going to be used for the grand melee.

Ned had to admit that he was not a fan of the entire concept of the meele, there was little honour in the battle. There no coordination it was simply a frenzy of battle to the last man standing. It was perhaps true of a real battlefield as they could be chaotic but why someone would want to emulate war truly escaped him.

It started too soon and already it was chaos, swords meeting swords and shields slamming against helms. It was bloody mindless affair and Ned could not see how anyone was the true victor of the event.

But eventually there was a victor regardless, he was a monstrous man of nearly twenty and was the largest man that Ned had ever seen and made his father almost like the size of a regular man. He wore a yellow surcoat with black dogs. He lifted his helm to reveal an unpleasant face and he practically snatched the winner's purse out of the hands of the pale face servant who presented it before he stormed away, his footsteps shaking the earth.

Ned feel Elia tighten her hand around his and he turned to look at her only to see that she had grown very pale. "Elia? What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Do you want to go back to the keep?"

"No. No." Elia said as she shook her head and gave him a warm smile. "I am fine I promise you, it was just...he is a very fearsome man. I do not believe that I have ever seen the likes of him before."

"Gregor Clegane I believe, the son of one of Lord Tywin's bannermen. Or he may be the lord now I am not sure if his father is dead or not." Oberyn pointed out as they watched the man leave. "Some call him the mountain and I think you can see why, I would call him a monster. There are certain stories about him after all."

Neither Ned nor Elia wished to hear those stories and soon enough it was time for the joust, a group of servants quickly made sure that the ground was even and the first match soon began. it was Prince Rhaegar, dressed in night black armour with a three headed dragon made of rubies embedded in his breastplate, and Ser Arthur, their horses stormed down the lanes at one another and Prince Rhaegar's lance splintered against Ser Arthur's breastplate and he was thrown from his horse.

There was thunderous applause from the stands but to Ned there was nothing louder than the sound of Elia's gasp as the sword of the morning landed and rolled and the sigh of relief she gave as he stood up and was lead away by his squire to be seen too by the maester.

Next to ride it was Ser Jamie, dressed in armour made of glided steel, and Ser Barristan the Bold. None cheered louder than the lady Cersei when her brother unseated the old knight.

It went on for at least four more hours and by then the conclusion that everyone know was already coming. Prince Rhaegar and Ser Jamie would ride against one another, They both raised their lances but while Rhaegar's lance did splinter against Ser Jamie it did not knock him from his horse. The two men came around again but this time it was Ser Jamie's lance that splintered against the Prince's breastplate and unlike Ser Jamie, Rhaegar was knocked from his steed.

Cersei Lannister screamed so loud as her prince lay still on the tourney ground and Jamie Lannister lifted his helm, his face pale and for a moment Ned thought he was going to be sick. Tywin Lannister's face was stormy and Queen Rhaella looked as though she was going to faint and King Areys...

His face was utterly blank.

There was a collective sigh of relief when the Prince stumbled to his feet and his squire lead him away to see the Grand Maester. A squire placed the crown of love and beauty on Ser Jamie's lance.

It was a beautiful crown, made of dozens of red, yellow and orange flowers. Cersei Lannister smiled as her brother approached but it feel as he rode past and there was sudden gasp all through the stands.

Ned didn't know what unnerved him more when Ser Jamie Lannister placed the crown atop Elia's head, the arrogant smirk on his face, the simmering rage that Ned felt in his gut, the look of sheer and utter hate that marred Cersei's features, the unreadable look on Tywin Lannister's face, the look of confusion on Queen Rhaella's face, the look of murder that probably mirrored how Ned himself felt on his goodbrother's face.

Or the unreadable glint in the mad king's eye.

End of chapter Twenty-four.

* * *

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, it took a great deal of work. I know some people wanted Ned to compete but I couldn't think of a good enough reason for him to do. Anyway, I think there will only be two or three more chapters in King's Landing and then we can move on to the next arc of the story.**

 **I also suppose that now would be a good time to address the point of canon, for the most part I am using a mixture of book and show canon. An example for this chapter is Tyrion is closer to how the show depicts him but he does have the mismatched eyes of book Tyrion.**

 **Another example is that the sand snakes are closer to there book depiction but Nymeria does use a whip like her show version as I do think giving her Obara's training with the whip made sense but she does still use her daggers as well and Tyene in this fic is closer to the book as she doesn't use daggers and only uses her knowledge of poison, when she is older of course. and her sweet façade as her weapons.**

 **Please review, follow and favourite if you liked it and please feel free to give any constructive criticism.**


	25. Chapter 25

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Five.

Cersei wanted to hit something, she wanted to scream and stab and burn the tent she was in to the ground. More than anything she wanted to throttle her brother as he sat at the table with a bored expression on his face as though he did nothing wrong. How could he be so fucking stupid? Did he not realise what he had nearly cost her? What he had nearly cost all of them?

She turned on him and took all she had to not scream at him at the top of her voice. "I cannot believe that you turned out to be such a fool! Do you realise what you have done? You're the one who was warning me about not wanting to start a war with the North and Dorne, what were you thinking!"

"I was thinking that I had another plan that didn't involve me killing someone with a lot of powerful friends who would and could gut me if I touched even one of her curly black hairs, plus on top of that she doesn't deserve to die. She's done nothing wrong Cersei." Jamie's voice normally soothed her, it always seemed lull her into calm and made her happy but now all it did was infuriate her.

"You humiliated me!" She spat, her voice full of venom and took such joy in the surprise and the hurt in her brother's eyes, it was nothing less than he deserved for hurting her. "This was my moment! Rhaegar was going to crown me the queen of love and beauty and all would see that I was his! That I was going to be the queen one day and you ruined it all."

"What if you had killed him? I would've lost everything! Do you think that I would have forgiven you for that?" She spat and turned away from him, she didn't even want to look at him. "How could you do this to me?"

"I was trying to save our lives!" Jamie shouted as he stormed forward and grabbed her by the arms and spun her so she faced him, Cersei tried to break free of his hold but as always he was a great deal stronger than her. "I crowned her not to seduce her but to make her husband jealous, if I killed her and was caught then we would both be dead. But if her husband became so jealous that he can't stand the sight of me with her then he would take her away, it's what I would do."

"That is what I've been doing these past few weeks, not seducing her but making sure that Eddard Stark always knew that I was nearby and that I had an interest, you wanted her out of the way but I couldn't kill her Cersei but I also made you a promise so I came up with the best solution that would not get us killed. He will take her back to Winterfell soon and you will never see her again." He whispered the last part gently as he released her arms and cupped her face. "I promise Cersei."

Cersei felt her anger ease and her features softened. "She isn't more beautiful then me? She is not more lovely than me?" That crown should have been hers, it would've been her first and it would've looked so much more beautiful one her head than it would have on the Dornish whore's head, when it had been placed on the older woman's head she had hoped that the thorns of the flowers would pierce her skin and make her bleed.

"No maid in any of the kingdoms, or the free cities, or the summer isles or any other land can compare to you." Jamie whispered before he leaned is and joined their lips together, Cersei knew that she should not be doing this. Rhaegar would be disgusted by her and anyone could walk in on them and it was she that had told them on the ride here all that time ago that they could not be able to do this anymore but at this moment she did not care and simply relaxed into the kiss.

They stayed together like that for a few moments and Cersei found that during those moments all her hate and anger had all seemed to drain away from her, Jamie always had that affect on her. When there was the rustle of the tent flaps opening Cersei pulled away from her brother and stormed over to the other side of the tent.

Aunt Genna walked in with Tyrion following her, Tyrion walked over to the table and sat down in a chair before he turned to look at his brother with a cruel grin on his ugly little face, how could her beautiful mother and her gallant father have ever made a hideous, stunted monster like that? "My dear brother." He began, every word out of his mouth was dripping in mockery. "You've made quite a mess of things."

How Jamie ever love such a twisted thing that was so cruel to him? She would never understand why her own reflection was so devoted to him. He had killed their mother and Jamie had loved her even more than Cersei ever had, he had always used to sit at her feet and clenched his hands in her skirts and followed him around a great deal more than she ever did.

When they were younger and they used to swap clothes so they could pretend to be one another and Jamie would beg to spend all his time with their mother rather then learning with a septa, when father found out he had put a stop to it as soon as possible but their mother had comforted them and told them they hadn't been in trouble and that she understood.

She bit her tongue and forced back the tears, she was a lioness. She would not cry and she would not let the little monster have the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She allowed herself to think of one of the last memories she had of her mother, of her finding her and Jamie together and forcing them to be apart in separate rooms. It was one of the few times in her childhood that she could say that she actually hated her mother and so she clung to it and soon her anger was far greater than her sadness and the urge to cry seemed to have just faded away like mist in the light of the sun.

"Indeed." Aunt Genna said as she walked over to the table and sat down next to Tyrion before she reached out and picked up a large ripe plum from the golden bowl in the centre of the table. "Your Father and Uncle Kevan are speaking with the king at the moment to try and make sure you do not lose your head, honestly Jamie. What were you thinking? The relationship between the king and the prince maybe frosty at best but he is still his son and heir and if you killed him then he would show you no mercy."

Jamie opened his mouth to respond but Genna simply had to hold up her hand to get Jamie clamp his lips back together, no one interrupted her while she was still speaking. "On top of that fiasco you went ahead and crowned Elia Martell as your queen of love and beauty, forgetting for a moment that it is very much frowned upon for you to crown a woman who is already married to someone else, you seemed to have forgotten that she is married to the son of the warden of the north and is the sister of the prince of Dorne! So, again I ask what were you thinking?" She asked before she bit into her plum, juice staining her chin.

Jamie waited for his aunt to finish eating the plum as he knew better than to speak before she was finished, he glanced at Cersei and she was certain that she felt her heart drop into her stomach. He wasn't going to tell her about their plan was he? That would be insane and stupid and Father would kill the both of them, he couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it.

All too soon Genna finished her plum and used her handkerchief to wipe away the juice which she folded up and then stared at her nephew unblinkingly, Tyrion mirrored her and his grin seemed to have fallen away, perhaps the stunted little fool finally realised how serious this actually was.

Jamie let out a deep sigh before he began to speak. "Aunt Genna, you all knew that I was going to participate in the joust before I saddled my horse. I know that when the prince and I were matched that I should've let him win but I let my pride get the best of me, I didn't want to lose. Ser Arthur Dayne unseated prince Rhaegar during the tourney at Lannisport so I did not see the harm in me trying to do the same."

Cersei remembered that tourney, Rhaegar had been so beautiful on his horse and in his armour which was the same as the armour that he had worn today. That tourney should have been the happiest few days of her life, Father and Aunt Genna had promised her that she would be betrothed to Rhaegar by the time the tourney ended but the King had refused the betrothal and humiliated her and her father by calling him a servant and she a servant's daughter.

She had to wait years for her to get this far, she couldn't lose it all now. She couldn't.

"None was more worried when I when the prince was still on the ground, I had thought I killed him for a moment and if I had then I would've accepted any punishment that the king deemed fitting, of course. I crowned Princess Elia because I've grown quite fond of her over the past few weeks and I thought that surely it would be better if we were the ones joined to House Martell, with Cersei marrying Rhaegar we would be allied with some of the most powerful families of the seven kingdoms. I will admit I could've handled it better but-"

Jamie could not continue as Genna interrupted him. "Any other way of handling it would've been a better way of handling it, I understand the ambition but what I do not understand is why you? Jamie, you are not one for plots and you are not a fool, you can be reckless I will admit but never like this. I do not understand." She admitted with a shake of her head before she suddenly seemed to tense and turned her attention to Cersei. "Is this your doing?"

"What? Aunt Genna, I do not understand?" Cersei said with a smile, ready to play the ever so dutiful daughter.

"Yes, you do. Jamie would do anything for you as I know that Tywin and Kevan and Tygett and Gerion would do anything for me, they are my brothers and Jamie is yours. You are a jealous girl Cersei, you always have been. When ever there was a new babe in the nursery you would grow angry that there was no attention being given to you. You are most likely paranoid that the Dornish girl will try and steal Rhaegar back from you and in your stupidity, you formed a plot that could do serious damage to us." Genna stood as she spoke, bringing herself to her full height which was quite tall for a woman.

Cersei was undaunted. "You can not speak to me like that! I am going to be the queen! You maybe my aunt but you will apologise to me this instant!" She screamed, her voice shrill and she glared at her aunt with all the rage and hate she could muster which had made a great many men soil their drawers in the past.

Genna did not seem to be at all disturbed, instead she simply narrowed her eyes after her niece had stopped ranting, the green of her eyes looking like chunks of frozen ice. "Are you done? To be honest I don't care if you are because now you are going to listen to me. You are not the queen yet, you are not even in line for being the queen yet until you and Prince Rhaegar say your vows to one another and he places his cloak on your shoulders and that might not happen, Elia Martell thought she was going to be the princess of the seven kingdoms and now she is not as the King changed his mind, so I would not be so certain if I were you, words are wind."

Cersei bit her lip and whimpered, the king wasn't going to change his mind. He couldn't, she had waited so long to get here that he couldn't change his mind now. Why would he? It was obvious why he changed his mind when it came to Elia, she was sickly and too old and she would never be able to give Rhaegar healthy heirs but she was young and beautiful and could give him as many babes as he wished.

She wouldn't be set aside, she wouldn't.

The flaps of the tent were opened and Kevan walked in and everyone turned to face, he had a heavy frown on his and an unreadable look in his eye. "You've all been summoned by the king, Lord Eddard, Lady Elia, and Prince Oberyn have been summoned as well."

"For what?" Tyrion asked as he hopped out of his chair.

"I am a little uncertain to be honest, the king is...not being very coherent at the moment. Your father and I are trying to speak with him and for a moment I thought we were making some progress but then all of a sudden he simply started to demanding that you all present yourself, he's sent a servant to collect the Starks and Prince Oberyn so I think it would be best if we made our way there, we would not want to be late." Kevan explained before he turned and began to make his way out of the tent.

They followed him out and began to walk towards the royal tent, passing dozens of other tents as they went. "Uncle." Jamie began, clearly trying to hide his nervousness from them all but Cersei could hear it, she had always been able to read Jamie since they were children. "Be honest with me, does it look like I am going to lose my head?"

Kevan sighed before he spoke. "You have committed no crime Jamie, but the king's mood is unpredictable and you should not have done such a foolish thing. I would recommended being extremely quiet and if the king demands it of you, you will fall on your knees in front of him and beg his forgiveness. Do you understand?"

"Yes Uncle." Jamie said and then was quiet for the rest of the walk to the tent, Tyrion placed his hand on his arm to try and offer him some soft of comfort and it took all Cersei had not to scream at him to not touch him. Honestly, it was all going to be fine. The king wouldn't hurt Jamie, she wouldn't let him and even if he tried to she would simply make Rhaegar stop him.

Everything was going to be fine. She was going to be the queen. Nothing and no one would ever be able to take that away from her and if anyone tried then she would make them suffer.

It did not take them long to finally reach the royal tent and they stepped inside and the servant introduced them, the king was sitting on the throne of the raised platform with his wife at his side and two of his kingsguard, though Cersei could not tell who, standing behind him, Tywin was standing in front of them with an unreadable expression on his face, Prince Rhaegar was standing off to the side and all Cersei wanted to do was run to his side and bury her head into that gorgeous silver hair and pretend that none of this was happening.

There was no sign of the younger prince and Cersei was glad of that, the Prince Viserys was an awful little beast and she had tried everything she could think of to get him to like her from bringing him sweets from the kitchens and offering to play with him but he still remained utterly closed off to her.

Memories of how he humiliated her by saying that he wished his brother was still marrying Elia came back to her mind and she decided that as soon as she was the queen she was going to have shipped as far away as she possibly could, if he preferred Elia to her so much then perhaps he would do a great deal better in Dorne.

Speaking of Elia she, her husband and her brother were standing on the other side of the tent. There was no sign of Prince Oberyn's bastard daughters and she was glad of that, she had been surprised that the queen had been so forgiving of him bringing them to sit with them in the stands. He had been invited as a guest of honour and he decided to insult the queen by bringing his baseborn children?

Bastards might have been treated differently in Dorne but this was not Dorne.

Eddard Stark narrowed his eyes at Jamie and Cersei was certain that she saw his hands curl into fists for a moment before they unclenched. Cersei could at least understand why he was angry, a better and far more attractive man had made a claim on his wife.

Elia was standing next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered something into his ear, she was not wearing the crown but Cersei could see it on the table behind them. She supposed that the woman wanted to keep it as a reminder of a time when a handsome man saw something in her.

Looking at both of them Cersei couldn't help but feel sorry for any children they would have, neither of them were anything to really look at. Eddard Stark was long faced, it almost reminded her of a horse and his eyes were a dull grey while Elia was flat chested and at best she could be called plain.

None of their children would ever have any chance of being a great beauty, hers with Rhaegar would be so beautiful that they would have songs written about them.

Prince Oberyn was also glaring at Jamie and Cersei was glad that there were more Lannisters in the tent than Martells or Starks as if it was just Jamie and Oberyn then she imagined that the prince would've stormed over and smashed her brother's face in.

The king suddenly cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention to him, he stood to his feet and Cersei had to stop herself from frowning at how terrible he looked. His silver hair was dirty and tangled in knots, his silver beard was as long and as unkempt as his hair, his nails were as long as claws and he was rail thin from barely eating anything at all for such a long time.

How such an ugly thing could have had a part in creating her Rhaegar she would never know.

"Well, what an interesting few days this has been. You, boy! Come over here." The king shouted at Jamie, his voice was rough. Jamie swallowed roughly and stepped forward, kneeling down in front of the king and the queen. "You've made rather a mess of things haven't you? You do know it is frowned upon to crown another man's wife the queen of love and beauty?"

"Your grace, if I might interrupt." Tywin intervened as he stepped forward and placed his hand on Jamie's shoulder though it did not seem to offer his son much in the way of comfort. "We were all young once after all and youth can make any of us do foolish thing your grace, I am more than certain my son regrets these foolish actions and I-"

"Well, that's all very well Tywin but I do not remember asking you to speak." Aerys spoke and Cersei watched as her father's face darkened, his eyes narrowed to slits and he stepped back, not out of fear but if Cersei knew her father as well as she thought she did then simply to stop himself from doing something that would have his head removed.

Aerys turned his attention fully to Jamie and narrowed his purple eyes. "Do you know what I would've done to you if my son had been seriously hurt?"

Jamie suddenly seemed so very small and he tried desperately to stutter out some words that would appease the king who it was well known preferred some rather...cruel methods of execution, both Cersei and Jamie had been witness to the fact in their time at court.

She still sometimes had nightmares of that young boy's death, she wasn't a fool by any means. She knew that a king had to be strong and could not tolerate any descent and the only way to ensure loyalty was to make sure that your subjects feared you more than any other but even so she had to admit it that even she found the punishment a little cruel.

The boy had stolen a loaf of bread from the kitchens because he had been so hungry, he had begged for forgiveness and cried heavily and while Cersei knew she couldn't even she might have suggested mercy, perhaps simply taking a finger instead of a hand. But the king had needed his subjects to know that no crime would be tolerated in his reign.

The boy had been tied to a pyre in the middle of the throne room and fire had been set to it, the room was as quiet as a grave as all the noble lords and ladies watched a boy little more than a babe be burned to death, screaming in agony. Many of them turned their eyes away and she was certain that afterwards quite a few of the weaker members of court had fainted but none of them had tried to leave, none of them wanted to risk the King's ire.

Jamie had been as pale as milk and Rhaegar had clutched her hand so tightly that she thought her bones were going to crack but she had been so happy that he had been holding her hand that she didn't say anything, she had barely noticed the burning child after she realised she was being touched by her silver prince.

He had not been the most open with his affection since she had come to King's Landing and she didn't know why, she was the most beautiful woman in the world but also was spending as much of her time with him as she could but he barely had any time to spend with her.

Perhaps he just wanted to hold back his affection until their wedding night? She was surprised at how happy that thought made her, she was truly marrying a prince who cared about her honour and wanted to make sure that there wedding bed was not sullied. She loved her dragon prince so.

Speaking of her prince he strode forward and stood beside her brother and met his father's stare, looking every bit the gallant prince standing before the wicked old king. "Father, surely there is no need for this. I am perfectly fine and I am more than welcome to challenge, Ser Arthur unseated me at the tourney at Lannisport and no great fuss was made of it and as for him crowning Princess Elia I am certain he only meant it as a gesture of respect and he meant no offense-"

"It seems everyone thinks that I would like to hear them speak at the moment except for who I actually want to hear speak!" The king interrupted as he narrowed his eyes into a glare which he focused on his son. "Shut your mouth boy before I have your tongue ripped out, and I will do it. See if I don't." He threatened.

Rhaegar clamped his mouth shut and stepped back and Cersei let out a gentle sigh of relief, she was still worried about her brother of course but she wasn't sure how she would be able to marry her Rhaegar if something so horrible happened to him.

"Go on then boy, my son may actually be right for a change. He wasn't seriously hurt so I can let you unseating him go. But why did you crown another man's wife?" The king asked and then was quiet as he stared at Jamie, waiting for an answer. "I'm waiting for you to answer me boy." He spat when Jamie simply kept his head bowed.

"Well, your grace I...I have a great deal of respect and affection for the Princess Elia, I simply crowned as a way to show that to her and I certainly did not mean to disrespect her or her husband." Jamie shrugged slightly. "It was simply a gesture of respect and platonic affection for her, I simply did not think it through." He turned his head to look at Elia and her husband. "I apologise if I offended either of you."

Elia nodded in acceptance while her husband and brother simply narrowed their eyes in suspicion, the king was silent and stroked his long silver beard for a moment before he smirked and let out a dark chuckle that froze Cersei's blood. "Very well then." He muttered and turned his gaze to the Dornish girl who, Cersei had to give a little credit, did not flinch when it landed on her. "Girl, come here."

Elia did not bow her head as she walked across the tent with all the occupants eyes on her, she did not bend her back as she curtsied and she did not break the king's gaze as she looked into his eyes. "Yes, your grace. What would you have of me?" Her voice was gentle and low and Cersei just knew that she was planning something, trying to find something she could use.

Something she could use to take what now belonged to Cersei.

"Aren't you flattered by Ser Jaime's attention? How he would risk such scorn and disapproval simply to let you know how very much he respected you?" The king asked and there a mocking tone to his question.

Elia quickly bobbed her head up and down. "I am truly flattered Your grace."

"I'm very glad that you think so." The king grinned and both Elia and Jaime frowned heavily as did her father, her uncle, her aunt, her prince, the queen, the monster, Lord Eddard and Prince Oberyn. "For I've made a decision that I am sure you will both be happy with, you are both going to marry."

The air seemed to have been ripped straight out of the tent and silence was all there was to hear.

"What?" Both Jamie and Elia breathed in unison, breaking the spell, Elia's dark eyes had grown in shock and Jamie was as pale as a sheet. Rhaella turned to her husband in shock, her mouth hanging open. Rhaegar was looking back and forth from his father and Elia and clearly not knowing who to focus on or what to do, Lord Eddard and Prince Oberyn had both been struck dumb by the king's declaration and her Father was, for the first time that Cersei could remember, shocked. It only lasted for a moment before it faded.

Her aunt and uncle were looking at her father, waiting for him to say or do something and Tyrion was simply frowning heavily as he kept his gaze on Jamie.

Cersei did not like this, she did not like it all. She didn't want Elia here where she could seduce Rhaegar but Cersei certainly did not want her marry Jamie, her Jamie, her golden reflection. This was all his fault, if he had simply done as she said and killed the scheming bitch when he had the chance then all of this could've been avoided.

"Your Grace." Elia swallowed heavily before she continued to speak. "I am honoured that you would make such a match for me and I am utterly flattered but I must remind you that I am already married to Lord Eddard." She tilted her head towards her husband, perhaps in an effort to remind the king of that. Said husband took a step forward so that he was closer to his wife.

"Oh, yes I'm aware of that. I don't care, I Aerys Targaryen, second of his name, son of King Jaehaerys, second of his name. Do hereby dissolve the marriage of Elia Martell and Eddard Stark, so let it be known." As the words fell out of his mouth almost everyone in the tent stared at the king with mounting horror.

"Aerys." Queen Rhaella spoke quietly but strongly. "You cannot do this, you can't just break a marriage because you think that one of the partners in it would be happier with someone else, the Faith will not stand for it!"

"I am the king!" He roared and the queen flinched. "I can do as I like! The Faith answers to me as do the rest of you!" He stood from his chair and glanced around the tent. "Do not question me, any of you. This is the way it will be because I say it will." And with that the king stepped from the raised platform and began to make his way to the entrance of the tent, his kingsguard following him.

"Wait! Your Grace, please wait!" Elia cried as tears slipped from her dark eyes and rolled down her face. "Your grace I am with child, please do not do this!"

The king glanced back at Elia and then glanced down at her stomach and then back up at her face before he let out a weak chuckle that shook his entire body. "Girl, you do not seem to be very far along. This is what moon tea is for." And with that the king was gone, leaving the tent like a gust of wind that barely rustled the tent's flaps.

The sound that came out of Elia Martell's mouth barely sounded human as she fell to her knees and buried her head into her hands and began to sob violently, Eddard Stark half ran and half stumbled over to her and he fell in front of her and pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back and whispering into her ear something that Cersei could not hear. Oberyn Martell was glaring violently at Jamie who had not moved or said anything, he simply kept starring straight ahead.

Cersei realised, as she stared at Rhaegar who was looking at Elia with an expression full of pity, that she could live with this.

She could live with this as long as Elia Martell was as far away from here as possible, in the end when it came to Jamie or Rhaegar, she would always choose Rhaegar.

Always.

End of Chapter Twenty-Five.

* * *

 **Welp, who saw this one coming? Am I as cruel as GRRM yet? Anyway I'll leave you with this cliffhanger and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope I captured Cersei's voice and character but I also really hope that I got Genna right as well cause I really like Genna.**

 **I think that I should also clarify something that wasn't really touched on aside from Rhaella but will be brought up later in another chapter, Aerys knows he can't dissolve a marriage. He's insane, not stupid. But he isn't trying to really marry Jamie to Elia because why would he want his former friend to have such a strong alliance?**

 **He doesn't. He is in his own way trapping Jamie by betrothing him to a woman that he can not marry even if Elia's pregnancy is terminated because the wedding has already been consummated, Jamie is not a member of the Kingsguard yet but he is a knight and Tywin sent Jaime with Cersei to court to find a suitable woman to marry.**

 **All this was done to hurt Tywin by making that his son can not marry at all and thus would be forced to put Jaime aside for a different heir, plus Aerys actually thinks that this would weaken the STABM alliance, which he is aware of at least to some extent, by causing disability.**

 **As always please follow, favourite and review if you enjoyed this. Constructive criticism is also always welcome.**

 **See you next time!**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	26. Chapter 26

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Six.

It had been a long and slow ride back to the keep, Oberyn had been spitting with rage and Obara had not been far behind him when it had been explained to her what had happened and her younger sisters had simply been quiet and were more focused on doing their best to try and cheer her but at the moment, as much as Elia loved all of her nieces and was thankful for the attempt, she found that she was not being cheered and all she wanted was quiet.

She could feel Ned's eyes, burning with both anger though none was directed at her but only at this terrible situation and concern for her, on her and she felt guilt burning in her heart, in her mind she knew that none of this was her fault and was all the king but that logic did not seem to matter to her heart which seemed to be finding any way it could to blame her for the mess that they had found themselves in.

And in a way wasn't it her fault, she was the one who had wanted to come to King's Landing to see Oberyn, she had been the one to bring them here in to the reach of a king who the entire realm whispered of his madness and she had been so stupid and sentimental and it was her fault, it was.

Eventually they had made it back to the keep and made their way into their apartments, Obara had taken Nymeria and Tyene back to Oberyn's room while he accompanied them, as soon as they walked in Elia collapsed into the nearest chair and closed her eyes, savouring the darkness for a moment.

She was so very, very tired.

She opened her eyes and looked down to her lap to the crown of flowers in her lap, it was so beautiful and she had always dreamed about being crowned the queen of love and beauty but she always thought she would be crowned by her husband, but then she always thought that her husband would've been Rhaegar.

Elia twisted the crown in her hands as the light of the fire caused shadows to dance across it, the shadows obscured the thorns and Elia pulled her hand back when they bite into her palm and she held it up, watching as blood bloomed out of the wound for a moment before she looked back down at the crown.

Who would ever guess that such a beautiful thing would cause such anguish?

Her attention was drawn away from the crown when a rough hand gently curled around her wrist, she looked to see Ned smiling at her as he held her wrist and used his other hand to tightly tie a scrap of silk that he had found around her wound.

Who would ever know that a northern barbarian could have such a gentle touch?

Elia looked into his eyes and her husband sat next to her, pulling her into an embrace. She tried to savour the contact as it could be one of the last that she would ever for a while.

Oberyn was pacing up and down the room and it reminded her a great deal of how he had been acting in the Water Gardens when he learned that Aerys had broken her betrothal to Rhaegar and she was going to be married to Ned instead.

She imagined she would've found it funny, might have even laughed, if it weren't for the fact that her heart was actually breaking into a thousand pieces at the moment. She shut her eyes tight and tried to will her tears away, with a heavy shudder and with what felt like colossal effort she finally managed to open her eyes and not have any tears spill.

"He can not do this." Oberyn spat out the words with a rapid shake of his head, his viper eyes burning with a dark rage with which Elia was quite familiar with. "He may be a king but he can not dissolve a marriage, not one that has been consummated and not one with a healthy child on the way. The faith won't stand for it, Dorne will not stand for it."

"It was a marriage before the old gods." Ned pointed out as he gently stroked the bottom of Elia's back and Elia, while she still felt like she was moments away from breaking down into sobs again, felt herself slowly began to relax as the action soothed her. "I am uncertain if the faith of the seven really has a jurisdiction over it."

"It doesn't matter in which faith the marriage was done!" Oberyn shouted and Elia glared at him for his sharp tone but it did not seem to effect him at all as he just continued with his ranting. "He can not break apart a marriage even if he is the king, and the High Septon will care because if he tries to break apart your marriage and he succeeds then it will set a dangerous precedent."

"If he can't legally break us apart and obviously Ser Jaime can not marry an already married woman then why don't we all simply leave King's Landing now?" Eddard asked but Elia shook her head with a sigh.

"I would be extremely surprised if the King has not already given the City Watch and the guards inside the keep orders to make sure that we are not to leave until he says otherwise." Elia explained before she stood up and walked across the room and picked up a large pitcher which was filled with a sour Dornish Red and used it to fill a goblet.

Both her brother and her husband looked like they were going to say something, perhaps to remind her she was pregnant and should not be drinking, but then they both at same time seemed to remember what a day it had been and instead simply poured themselves a cup as well.

Elia drank the bitterness down, she preferred the sweeter reds but at the moment she simply needed a drink, she had been so happy on the first day of the tournament and now all of her happiness had turned to ashes due to the action of a simple madman who had been given a crown simply due to who his father was.

Elia realised in that moment a simple truth which she should've realised the moment her betrothal to Rhaegar was called off.

King Aerys was a cruel, mad and fickle bastard who smelled plots all around him and would do anything to stop them.

Ned finished of his cup of wine and quickly refilled which Elia had to raise an eyebrow at, Ned wasn't much of a drinker so he must've really been upset tonight. He had drunk a lot the night his father had a heart attack as well and she did not judge him for it then or now. "What I do not understand is why the king would do this? I know that he is insane but even mad people have reasons that make sense to them?"

"I can't be certain but...I think he might be doing this to mainly get back at Tywin Lannister." Elia suggested and then continued as both of the men turned to look at her. "Think on it for a moment, you remember what he said about Joanna Lannister? He was bitter that he could not have her and that Tywin did in the end?"

"Ser Jaime can't marry you unless you're unwed and the King can not break our marriage." Eddard said slowly as he tried to piece it together. "Wait a moment, if Ser Jaime and you are essentially betrothed together by a king's command.."

"Then Ser Jaime can not marry or have any true born children that can inherit Casterly Rock, meaning that he cannot be a proper heir as he can not produce any true heirs himself." Elia explained as she took a sip of her wine. "Lord Tywin would have to name another heir and who does he have to do that?"

"He has a second son." Ned pointed out and Elia shook her head at that.

"I do not judge Lord Tyrion, but he's a dwarf and from what I have heard complications from his birth was what killed his mother and I remember how cruelly the Lady Cersei treated him when Oberyn and I went to Casterly Rock with our mother." Elia stopped for a moment as her thoughts turned to Lord Tyrion for a moment.

It had been a surprise when she saw the little man in the tent but not an unpleasant one, she always hoped that the sweet little babe who had been locked away would be able to one day live in the light and now it seemed that wish had come true. But his sister still seemed to be as cruel as she could remember.

Lord Tywin did not seem to be over enthused about his younger son's presence, he barely even seemed to notice that he was there most of the time and when he did Elia saw no joy in his eyes, no love. She supposed that all things considered she should not be much surprised at the lack of love since it was obviously it was Lord Tywin who had hidden poor Tyrion away in the darkest corner of Casterly Rock.

"I do not think that Lord Tywin would want Lord Tyrion to have Casterly Rock, they were never kind to him." Elia lamented with a gentle sigh as she shook her head. "Lord Tywin is a proud man, I don't think that he would want any of his nephews to take the seat either, the King has essentially robbed him of his heir without having to do anything."

"What does any of this matter?" Oberyn asked with a scoff. "Assuming that you are right in your theories and the King has given orders that we are not to leave King's Landing until he decides that we leave then all we have to do is wait until he decides that we can go, then all we have to do is wait and when the time comes when we leave the city then we just ride north."

"He will want me to go to Casterly Rock with my..."betrothed" I am certain that he will send guards to make sure that I go there, I wouldn't even be surprised if he sends a few members of the Kingsguard with them." Elia shook her head as their situation sunk in. "We must remember that he is mad, not stupid. This may have been an impulsive decision but it is one that he has made and he will want it carried out."

"Well then, if that is the case then we simply attack the Lannisters and take you back." Oberyn declared and Elia stared at her brother like he had suddenly turned purple and sprouted another head.

She didn't have a chance to criticise him for that line of thinking as Ned had already beaten her to it. "We can not do that! If we attack the Lannisters then it is a move of open aggression and an act against the royal family, it would be taken as treason. More importantly I didn't bring the men to attack their host, did you?"

Oberyn's dark scowl and fierce glare was answer enough to that and he simply turned and muttered to himself.

"And the most important thing is, even if we did attack them there is a risk that Elia could wind up being hurt and I will not risk her or our child for anything in this world or the next, do you understand that?" Ned said and his voice lowered to a dangerous level and despite the sadness and anger that she still felt Elia could not but help but smile.

She stepped forward and placed her hand on Ned's arm and he turned his face towards her, a smile on his face and Elia leaned into kiss him. Oberyn sighed heavily and shook his head. "So, what are we going to do? We cannot just lie down and accept this! I refuse to do that!"

"That isn't what we're going to do." Elia said as she broke her kiss with Ned and turned on her feet and walked over to the trunk in the corner of the room, she opened it and pulled out the two unsealed parchments that Rhaegar had given her when he had come to see her. "A few weeks ago when you two went to have your private conversation, Prince Rhaegar had come to see me."

Ned did not look pleased at this revelation but he did not say anything and this was more important at the moment so Elia simply carried on. "He said that he wished to speak with me and I did not turn him away, at first all we talked of was how I was finding my marriage and how he was finding Lady Cersei but then, he asked me to make sure that these reached Doran and Lord Rickard."

As soon as Elia finished talking she handed both of the letters over, giving the one meant for Doran to Oberyn and the one meant for Lord Rickard to Ned, Ned seemed a little uncertain about reading a letter that was meant for his father but once he saw that Oberyn was already reading the letter for Doran he opened his as well.

For a moment in the room there was only silence in the room as the two men read the letters, taking in every single word that had been written upon them. Ned finished reading his first as he looked up from the letter to meet his wife's eyes, his own were nearly as wide as plates. "What is written on here-

"I know, but I promised Rhaegar that I would get these too Doran and your Father. And considering what has happened today, that is a promise I intend to keep." Elia stated firmly before she turned her gaze to her younger brother, he was still reading his letter but then he quickly folded it up and raised his head to meet his sisters eyes, his own eyes were dark but Elia could see something else in them other than anger or bloodlust now.

A deep sense of satisfaction, of approval.

Elia did not know if anything ever unsettled her more.

"What are we to do with this?" Oberyn asked but his tone gave Elia the impression that he already had an idea of what he had to do, or at least what he wanted to do.

"We need to get these messages for who they are meant for, now I've already memorised these and I must ask you to do the same, I know that is easier said than done and I've had several weeks to do so and I would be surprised if the King gave us more than a day or two after Cersei and Rhaegar's wedding before I am sent to Casterly Rock." Elia explained.

"As soon as you are confidant that both of those messages are memorised then we must destroy them because if they are discovered then instead of being humiliated and separated for awhile then our heads will end up on pikes, and that is the best way that this will end." Elia pointed out.

"This letter seems to suggest that Lord Tywin is already allied with Prince Rhaegar." Ned muttered, to himself as much as the rest of them. "Which I suppose does make sense, his daughter is married to him and that makes them bound by oath. And, of course he wants her to be the queen."

"Which is why, no matter what we think or feel, we can not make an enemy of any of the Lannisters, either during the next few days or while I am a..."guest" at Casterly Rock." Elia was addressing the both of them but she kept her eyes firmly on Oberyn, they were both angry about what was happening and she knew that because she was more angry than either of them, she was so angry that all the sadness and fatugie that she had been feeling before seemed to have abandoned her, but Oberyn was the most impulsive of them and he could wind up doing something that would ruin everything.

Oberyn held her gaze but didn't say anything, in the end it was Ned who broke the silence. "You heard what the king said, he wanted you to be rid of the child. What do we do if he goes to Casterly Rock and he sees that you have not done as he aske?"

Despite herself Elia could not help but smile, knowing that her husband and herself were both firmly on the same page, that there was no chance in all seven hells she would cleanse herself of her child. She would burn all seven kingdoms to the ground first.

"Well, it's a long journey to Casterly Rock and I am a very sick woman, I am sure the maester of Casterly Rock can be persuaded to agree that by the time we get there it will be far too risky for me to cleanse the child from myself." Elia suggested and Ned nodded his agreement to that.

"But who knows how long you will be stuck at Casterly Rock, you could be there for so long that your children will be born there." Oberyn pointed out before he let out a heavy sigh. "And I would hate to point out a flaw in your theory but you're assuming that the King will care about you being at risk for cleansing the babe and that Tywin will risk his daughter's safety for allowing you to keep them."

"The king's entire plan depends on me being alive, he doesn't want Tywin's golden son to be the Lord of Casterly Rock and if I die then his plan is ruined." Elia pointed out. "I know it's a risk but at the moment it is a risk that we are forced to take, if we can work with him then we have an advantage. We would have all of the seven great houses on are side except for the Tyrells, and we would have Rhaegar working on the inside. This could work."

"My father has been working towards this for years." Ned pointed out and both Elia and Oberyn turned to face him and he shrugged. "He was marrying Brandon to a Tully and Lya to a Baratheon and he did not seem as all hesitant to marry me to you Elia, I'm not a complete fool. It didn't take me long to figure out what he was doing."

"I thought you said that northerners didn't have the time to play the game." Oberyn said with a smirk on his face and Ned smirked back, an unusual expression on his face but Elia found that she did not mind it.

"We don't, but to be utterly frank he wasn't technically playing it in the north." Ned said but his face suddenly grew intense, Elia had lived with her husband long enough to know he was contemplating something. "The North, Dorne, the Riverlands, The Stormlands, that splits the continent in half and if you add the Vale and Casterly Rock then we have the capital surrounded, again aside from the Tyrells and the Reach."

"That isn't a surprise, even if we did march against the King I doubt the Tyrells would help us. The Martells have never been on the best terms with them." Elia reminded him, she couldn't remember exactly why the Tyrells and her family had been at one another's throats but she knew that one of the Tyrell's had been assassinated by one of her ancestors but she didn't know that if that was the cause or if it was a simply another causality but it did not help them.

The only way she could see the Tyrells siding with them was if every single other kingdom, every single one, side against the king.

"Nevermind the fucking flowers, they can die with there mad king as well if that's what they want, I will be glad to be rid of them. We can march on the capital as soon as possible and put an end to this." Oberyn spoke with a dark smirk, nothing would please him more and Elia was certain of that which only made her worry more.

"Keep your voice down, we all like our heads where they are. I am certain of that if nothing else." Elia whispered as she glanced at the door, half expecting a dozen guards to come bursting in. "Remember to keep yourself calm, being angry will not help anything. Go back to your apartments and make sure to keep your daughters calm as well, Obara looked like she was nearly ready to carve her way to the king and that will not help, go and stop her before she gets her spear and remember to make sure you've got it memorised."

Oberyn bowed. "Your wish is my command, princess," He said with a mocking grin but there was no heat in his words, there was never any heat or cruelty in his voice when he spoke to her and Elia could not stop herself from smiling at that thought. Oberyn stood straight and nodded his head to Ned before he turned and made his way to the door, closing it behind him once he had left.

Elia finished off the wine in the goblet and turned back to the table and picked up the pitcher but before she could refill the goblet a pair of strong and familiar arms encircled her middle and a pair of lips pressed firmly to her neck. She closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh and placed both the goblet and the pitcher back down on the table and melted into the embrace.

She felt Eddard's hands gently rubbing over the bump of her stomach, it had been growing quickly and she know most it was fat but she didn't care and Ned didn't seem to care either. "This is our child growing inside of you, I'll let them think that they've won for now. Let them think they can take you both away from me, but they won't. I won't let them." One of Ned's hands began to slip lower and lower, while the other hitched up her skirt higher and higher, until it arrived in between her legs and began to rub firmly, slipping a finger inside of her.

Elia whimpered and if it was not for Eddard standing behind then she would've very likely fallen backwards but his hard chest, Ned chucked softly and slipped a second finger inside of her while using his thumb to rub at the nub of flesh that always made her feel so heavenly. "Did you like that? Would you like me to do it again?" Ned asked as he pressed another kiss to her throat and gently moved the fingers that were inside of her, pushing them forward and pulling them back.

"Yes please." Elia muttered as she tilted her head back and let her eyes fall shut, swallowing around the heavy lump in her throat.

"Are you mine?" Ned asked and Elia wanted to hit him in the face but she also wanted him to do that again, so really she had no choice but to tell the truth.

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Ned."

"Elia."

"I'm yours you insufferable bastard now do that again or I swear to the old gods and the new that I will take Oberyn's spear and shove it through your head if you don't-" Elia's words were cut off by a strangled gasp that ripped from her mouth as Ned dragged his thumb over her nub and once her mind had returned to her she was certain she could hear her husband chuckling.

He really was an insufferable bastard, maybe not as much as his older brother but an insufferable bastard all the same. Was it simply a Stark trait? As much as she had grown on her in her time at Winterfell Lyanna was quite insufferable to her at first, before his heart attack Lyanna and Brandon both seemed to find their father insufferable.

Benjen was quite sufferable, he was nowhere near insufferable as his siblings so perhaps it wasn't an inescapable fact that all Starks were insufferable or perhaps they simply became insufferable as they matured.

Her thought process was interrupted by Ned picking her up, carrying her like a bride towards the bedroom door. She was glad of being carried because at the moment she was certain that if she tried to move her legs then she would collapsed, Ned kicked the door open and laid her down on the bed.

Ned climbed on to the bed and laid at her side, and pressed their lips together. "You are mind, and I am yours." He whispered between their kisses.

Elia couldn't stop the tears, she tried. By all the gods she tried but she could not stop them and once the first tear fell she could not stop the rest of them, with every tear that Ned wiped away another dozen seemed to fall from her eyes. "I do not think that I can do this." She whimpered.

"You can, I know that you can. You are one of the strongest women I know, the strongest. You are a Princess of Dorne, a Stark and a Martell and you are Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken." Ned said firmly as he cupped her face, looking deep into her eyes.

"Because winter is coming." Elia responded and leaned in to kiss Ned, who kissed back with equal fierceness, she deftly undid the laces of his breeches and gasped as his slid inside of her, closing her eyes.

It did not last long, it had been exhausting day and Ned spilled inside of her. The both of them soon began to fall asleep together, entwined in one another's arms.

The last thing that Elia thought, before she allowed herself to slip into the sweet darkness that was waiting for her, was that this was where she was happy. This was the man she loved and the child they had made together was growing inside of her. She wouldn't let anyone take this from her.

Oberyn was the red viper, Doran the grass that hid it, but Elia? Poor sick, gentle dutiful Elia?

She was the viper that would wait, she would wait years if she had to but in the end, she would kill her pray.

End of Chapter Twenty-Six.

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	27. Chapter 27

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

Elia had turned out to be right.

It was not long after the wedding feast of Prince Rhaegar and the now Princess Cersei that the king decided to send Elia away to Casterly Rock, in fact it was only two days after the feast that they were being sent away.

Ned and Elia had planned to return to the North after the tourney but obviously neither of them had expected any of this to happen, he had wanted to do nothing more than to send a message to his father and explained what had happened but he knew that any message sent by a raven would be read before it was sent, if it would be sent at all, and a rider would not be allowed to leave the city.

Ned was in fact able to send word to his father, but only to tell him that he would not be able to return as soon as they'd expected as the King had invited them to stay as guests of honour and it would be rude to refuse such a generous request. It had taken a great deal of willpower that Ned did not know that he actually possessed not to write that he didn't have much choice either way because if he had then he would've been perfectly fine with appearing rude.

Still, even if they didn't know exactly that they were essentially here against their will it still made Ned feel a little better that he had been able to get some word to his father, that he had let him know that they were still in King's Landing and that if they didn't return soon then something was wrong.

Of course, following this plan of theirs the only ones that would be returning north was Ned himself and the twenty or so guardsmen he brought with him, Oberyn would be returning to Dorne with his daughters so that he could tell Doran what had happened and gave him Rhaegar's message while Ned himself would be giving his message to his father.

Ned had already memorised his message and had burnt the paper to ashes, he could only hope that Oberyn had done the same thing to his message because in order to make sure that no one found out what they were doing they had all decided not to speak of it, they had even decided not to tell Rhaegar.

Ned personally thought that was a mistake but he had been outvoted as neither Elia or Oberyn of them wanted to take any risk that the king would find out, there were spies everywhere in King's Landing and most of them had belonged to the spider and it seemed that of everyone in King's Landing it was the eunuch who had the king's ear.

He wondered if this was as much the Spider's fault as it was the king's. he was constantly at his side and whispering in his ear so who knew how many plots he was whispering into his ear, both real and imagined. And in all the time they had spent in King's Landing only the gods could know what the Master of Whispers had told him about them.

The only thing Ned knew for certain was that when he was back in the North with Elia and their child safely alongside him, they were never going to leave the North ever again. The farthest south they would ever go would be Greywater Watch and no further.

He wondered how long that would be, how long would Elia be forced to stay at Casterly Rock? Would she be forced to have their child there? Would they be walking and talking before they could finally come to their true home in the North? Would they be calling Jaime Lannister father?

That one simple thought caused his blood to boil, he had been trying his hardest to be the voice of reason alongside Elia because he knew that if Oberyn thought he would support him then there was no telling what he would. Normally being the voice of reason had always come easily to him, with an older brother like Brandon and a younger sister like Lyanna it had sort of been forced on to him and he was more than used to it, after he had left for the Eyrie it had become poor Benjen's role.

But this wasn't smoothing over a disagreement, stopping Brandon from sneaking a whore into his room or stopping Lyanna from doing something that would break her neck or making sure that Benjen wouldn't eat something that he couldn't swallow, this was his wife and he being forced apart and he didn't want to be reasonable about that.

He wanted to find Jaime Lannister and smash his pretty face in until he was anything but pretty, he wanted to slice the Mad King's head from his shoulders and throw it in to a fire, he wanted to tear this stinking city apart and crack it open so all that lived here could see just how deep it had rotted.

But he knew that he couldn't do that, he couldn't do any of it without suffering the most severe of consequences and he didn't care much of what happened to him, he had learned how to die a very long time ago. But if anything happened to Elia, to his family because of something he did...

He could control himself, he would wait until the time was right. He had to.

The door to the room opened and Elia stepped in, her dress was quite plain and was an unusual mix of colours. Grey and burnt orange with long and billowing sleeves which covered her entire arms and a long hood which covered her head, the only skin that could be seen was her face and her hands. The only decoration were two broaches, one made of silver in the shape of a direwolf and one made of gold in the shape of a speared sun.

The dress in fact was more akin to robes and Elia had made it herself, she had been working on it ever since they had made their plan, it was made from wool instead of silk like most of her dresses. Ned wasn't entirely sure why she made the dress out of such a thick material as it could not be comfortable in the warmth of King's Landing but Elia claimed it made her feel better and Ned know that at the moment they both needed something to cheer them.

And he had to admit that it made him happy and proud to see that she was proudly wearing the colours of both her houses and their symbols, she might be a hostage at Casterly Rock but Ned knew that she wasn't going to let anyone forget that she was a Martell, a Stark.

"It's time." Elia said sadly as she glanced down at her hands before looking back up to look at her husband. "Why does it feel like I am never going to see you again?"

Ned stood up from the bed and quickly stepped over to her, he raised his hands and pushed her hood back before cupping her face and joining their lips together, she tasted of honey and something hot that threatened to burn but never did. He gently pulled away but kept her face in his hands. "I shall see you again, as soon as possible. I will do everything I can to make sure of that."

Elia nodded and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Come on, we shouldn't keep the rest waiting." She said as she took Ned's hand and turned to leave the room, leading Ned out as she did.

As they walked through the Red Keep Ned noticed that several lords and ladies were speaking in hushed tones and looking at them, it had not taken long for word of what the King had done to begin to spread all though out the Red Keep and it had become the most popular subject to speak off, the only good news was that from what Ned had been able to gather it seemed that very few people actually approved of what the King had done but no one had said or done anything about it out of fear of what the king would do to them and Ned wanted to strangle them all for being so cowardly.

They kept their heads down as their King killed innocents or burned people alive who did nothing to deserve such a punishment and they simply kept their heads down as they did it, the people were as rotten as the city. That was the truth of it.

The finally exited Maegor's Holdfast and stepped into the great courtyard of the keep and the first sight that greeted them was the sight of the Lannister host, ready to leave as soon as their new guest would arrive. Ned saw Jaime Lannister sitting on a great horse and dressed in his suit of gilded steel, when he saw them approaching he turned his gaze down to his feet and if Ned wasn't so sure that the Lannister boy wasn't incapable of feeling it then he was certain that he had glanced the emotion in his eyes before he could no longer see them.

Princess Cersei was there as well and she was marked by being the only one who didn't look miserable, disapproving or furious about what was happening all around her. She seemed to still be caught up in the ecstasy that her marriage to Prince Rhaegar had brought to her, thought Ned had to wonder if it was more the fact that she was going to be the queen that was bringing her the joy and not her husband.

She did seem more suited in Targaryen colours, he had to admit. The lion had so easily she shed her former coat for a gown that was black as night and a crimson sash around her waist. She had a silver neck lace adorned with rubies around her neck and a silver tiara with several rubies set into it.

She still had her wedding cloak on which was unusual as most brides always took it off after their wedding night but she had not, no one said anything to this as no one wished to offend her and she seemed to smirk every time that someone laid their eyes on the cloak, as if she enjoyed reminding everyone that it was she who had married the dragon prince and not any of them.

Speaking of the prince he was standing at the side of his new wife and he looked almost more melancholic than usual, his dark indigo eyes were filled with sorrow and Ned had to wonder if it wasn't to due with the fact that he was married to such a hateful woman, not that he deserved any less.

Ned then felt the urge to go and apologise to Cersei and Rhaegar, that was unworthy of him. He had spoken a handful of words to the both of them in all the time he had spent in King's Landing and he had no right to judge them. He had seen Cersei do cruel things to be sure and she had been rude to Elia but none of this was her fault, she had not asked the Mad King to do any of this. And Prince Rhaegar had tried to stop his father from his cruellest actions.

In truth he was simply angry both at the situation and everyone with the last name Lannister and Targaryen, he would've been able at that moment to go up to Tywin Lannister and punch him in the face but he knew that he could not. Not if he wanted to ensure that Elia was treated well at Casterly Rock, and less importantly if he wanted to retain the proper use of all of his limbs.

It suddenly occurred to him that neither the King, the Queen or the younger prince were nowhere to be seen and he had to wonder why, from all he had heard and seen the king certainly had no issue with witnessing the cruelty he inflicted but at the same time he supposed that the king not being here was something of a blessing.

He was worried for the queen however, a blind man could see how cruel the man was to his wife and despite his own anger at the royal family he could not help but hope that the kind woman was well as well as her son.

The sorrow in Rhaegar's eyes seemed to intensify when he looked at Elia and he seemed to want to come and speak with her but Cersei tightened her hold on Rhaegar's arm and narrowed her eyes at Elia before she turned her head to whisper something into the Prince's ear.

The prince sighed and nodded before he turned and began to escort her back inside and Ned noticed that Jaime Lannister's face had grown pale and he seemed to be holding on to the reins of his horse particularly tightly. The Imp rode up to him on his own horse, a smaller one that his brother's but it had a special saddle that supported the smaller man and he whispered something into his brother's ear, it didn't do much but it did seem to make the taller man smile.

He supposed even the Lannisters loved one another.

Elia suddenly gasped softly and Ned followed her gaze and he had to admit even he was shocked at what he saw, Gregor Clegane sat atop a large black Destrier, he supposed that it only made sense that such a man who was the largest that Ned had even seen would have the largest and most threatening horse that Ned had ever seen. A regular horse would seem to be like a donkey to him.

Even so, in full armour the poor creature threatened to buckle under it's riders weight and if it had been a regular horse than Ned know that it would have no chance of being able to stand whatsoever. "He's a monster." Elia muttered to Ned as the mountain of a man shouted curses at a smaller man who could only be his manservant. "No normal man could ever grow to such proportions."

Ned wished he had the words to comfort her but he had none, the man truly was a monster. Neither of them had wished to know but after time had passed he could not help himself, he needed to know what Oberyn had meant by the fact there were stories about the man.

He still found himself wishing that he hadn't asked.

A father that twenty years before he should have, an older sister that was hearty and healthy dead not a moon after, dozens of servants that mysteriously disappeared, a younger brother scared and dozens of woman raped and vast cruelty inflicted on to the lowborn.

He was a monster in far more than just frame.

And he served Lord Tywin Lannister and would be in close proximity to his wife for at least a great deal of her journey to Casterly Rock, swallowing acid and have a pound of his own flesh removed with a rusty knife would surely be more bearable than that thought.

"You will be alright, Lord Tywin won't let him hurt. He doesn't have a reason to hurt you." Ned wished he felt as confident as he sounded.

"If he tries then you are to send word to me and I will deal with him." Both Ned and Elia nearly jumped when Oberyn seemed to pop out nowhere, his voice angry and his dark eyes following the man as he rode to his place in the column. "The man might be a freak of nature but he is as slow as a glacier, I could handle him."

"I don't doubt that you could but you are to do nothing of the kind Oberyn, we can not start a war. Not yet anyway." Elia muttered under her breath. "You are going to go to Doran and give him the message and do nothing that he does not command do you understand?"

Oberyn did not look happy about it at all but his did nod his understanding before his features softened and pressed a kiss to his sister's cheek before he wrapped her arms around her and held her tight to him for a moment before he realised her with a reluctant sigh and walked back over to where his daughters stood with their septa.

Obara looked even more furious than her father which was quite an accomplishment to say the least and when the septa tried to scold her for it the girl let out a low snarl that sounded like it should come from a dog and the plain, plump woman reeled back in fear.

Nymeria looked more confused than anything else and her eyes seemed to become hopeful when she saw her father approaching her, as if she did not doubt that he would have all the answers for all of her questions. When she opened her mouth to speak however Oberyn simply put his hand atop her head and shook his own. The girl frowned darkly but did not say anything.

It was Tyene that was having the worst reaction, the tiny girl was sobbing her heart out both out of sadness and confusion in not understanding what was happening. Her tears only seemed to upset Elia more and Ned had to admit that even though he had only known the young girl for such a short time he had to admit that the sound of her cries pierced his heart like a knife.

Oberyn scooped up his daughter and pressed a kiss to her golden curls and whispered something into her ear that Ned could not make out, it seemed to settle her a little but she was still greatly upset as she whimpered slightly before burying her face into her father's neck.

He took hold of Nymeria's hand with his free hand and began to lead them over to were the Dornish host was waiting, the Septa and Obara following behind them. The septa, Tyene and Nymeria were placed in the small Dornish wheelhouse while Obara saddled a sandy brown stallion that looked even bigger when she rode atop it.

Oberyn saddled his own stallion and spared one more glance at his sister before he turned to speak with his eldest daughter, the Dornish host would not leave until after the Lannister host did so.

And Ned realised sadly that it was time to go. He lead Elia over to the Lannister wheelhouse and he was certain that he could feel every single pair of eyes in the entire courtyard on them as they reached the wheelhouse, but none of their gazes felt more heavy than the old lion's himself.

He was clad in full armour with his sword at his side, almost as if he expected that he would have to fight his way out of the keep. The armour it's self was as resplendent as only something paid for with Lannister gold could ever be, red and gold were it's colours and the chest plate was moulded into the shape of a roaring male lion, the Old Lion's red cloack was held in place by two small golden lionesses.

In truth on any other man it would've looked ridiculous but Tywin Lannister made it seem dignified, even restrained. Or maybe it was simply that Tywin was such a feared man that no one would even think of mocking him, the man did seem to have a way of laying your soul bare and finding you every secret and making you think that not even your thoughts were safe.

The Lannister wheelhouse was perhaps even more resplendent than the one used by the queen and it looked riddculously large compared to the smaller Dornish one, to start the abomination in front of him was at least twice the size of the royal wheelhouse and even standing still as it was it's wheels seemed to creak and threatened to break underneath it.

It's curtains were made of thick red velvet and were bordered with gold, shutters that were made of dark oak and had golden embedded into it, and had banners of both red and gold which would stream behind it when ever it moved but now simply laid across the top of it.

The door at the side of the monster swung open and Genna Lannister peered out, there was a small smile on her face and held out her hand for Elia to take. "Come along my dear, the journey may be a slow one but we shall at least shall be in comfort for it." She spoke for more softly than Ned could ever imagine any Lannister speaking.

Elia only glanced at the hand for a moment before she turned to face Ned and grabbed his face with her hands and brought their lips together fiercely, Ned held her tight as he deepened the kiss and he rested a hand on her round stomach and he once again found himself thanking the gods that the king was not here as he would not doubt be displeased by the show of affection between them.

Elia broke the kiss first but they did not pull away from one another, they kept their foreheads rested against one another for a moment before someone loudly cleared one another's throat, Ned broke away and looked around to see who did it but he could see no one who was giving any signs of having done it.

Regardless, the fact that almost everyone in the host looked impatient to go meant that it didn't really matter who had cleared their throat. It was time to let go.

Ned released his hold on Elia and stepped back, Elia sighed heavily and it seemed to shake her entire body but she did not bow her head and turned and stepped into the wheelhouse, not taking Genna's hand as she sat down her seat. The older woman's smile fell from her face but Ned saw there was no anger in her eyes, she turned to look at Ned with eyes full of sympathy and did not look away until the door was closed by a servant.

The host slowly began to ride through the gates, Tywin Lannister leading it through with his older brother at his side and his sons following right behind him. Ned simply kept his eyes on the wheelhouse and the further and further away it got he was certain that he felt his heart shattering into more and more pieces.

By all the gods, surely nothing could ever hurt like this? His father's heart attack was barely comparable to this, his mother's death and standing at her bedside and watching her slowly slip away, not even that had hurt as terribly as this did. Did that make him selfish? A cruel man who only cared about his own pain?

He did not like to think on it.

The wheelhouse, it's wheels creaking with every single roll that it made and for just a moment Ned had a heart stopping vision of the wheels shattering underneath the weight it was carrying and toppling over, spilling Elia with her delicate neck twisted the entire way around on to the ground, made it's way through the gates and there were no words that could describe the pain he felt when it slipped from his view and he realised she was gone.

Ned wasn't even aware of the rest of the Lannister host leaving through the gates, he was staring at them blankly but he did not see them. It was only when he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder that he seemed to become aware of the world again, he turned his head to see Oberyn who had dismounted his horse and was staring firmly into his eyes.

"This is not over Brother, I promise you. We will get her back no matter what." Oberyn spoke the words so harshly it was as if he had spat them out, it wasn't that Ned did not understand his anger as he was certain that what he was feeling was more potent than Oberyn but now that the Viper's sister was gone he seemed to have forgotten all of her words of restraint.

Before Ned could say anything about this Oberyn turned and hurried back over to his horse, quickly saddling it once again. He glanced down at Ned and nodded firmly and with a quick lash of his reins he was off, a dark blur rushing through the gates of the keep. A brown blur followed closely behind and Ned only knew that it was Obara because the colour of the blur had been the same as her horse, so fast she had been going.

In a matter of moment the much smaller Dornish host was gone and the courtyard seemed to be utterly abandoned, there was a sudden gust of wind that was colder than anything Ned had ever felt in King's Landing and he could not stop himself from nervously swallowing around a tight lump that had formed in his throat.

"My lord?" A nervous sounding voice spoke to the side of him and Ned turned his head to the guardsman who looked to be a few years older than him and yet still looked terrified that he would say something that would offend him. "Should we not be going?"

Ned was silent for a moment as his mind turned back to think on everything that had happened these past weeks and for a moment he still could not believe that any of it was actually real. It seemed like something out of a nightmare and by the gods how a small part of him that was still a boy wanted to cling to that thought, wanted to believe that any moment now he would wake up in his bed, Elia would be sleeping soundly at her side and the fire would be burning lazily in it's heath and they would be safe at Winterfell.

But he wasn't a boy anymore, he was a Stark of Winterfell and this was not a nightmare, it was his life. He could not change that but he would not take this lying down, he would wait. But every moment would waiting for just the right moment when he and Elia would be at his side once again.

He would rally the entire North to his side when the time was right if he had too.

"Yes, we should." Ned said and the guard ran off and soon returned with his horse that had been saddled, as soon as he was atop it he and his much smaller host began to ride out of the Red Keep and were soon out of the entire city proper, they were riding North in just under an hour.

As he rode he prayed, to the old gods even though there were few weirwood trees in the south and most of them were on the Isle of Faces in the riverlands and he did not plan on making such a detour so he would just have to hope that this one time the gods would be able to hear him even though they had no eyes with which to see him.

He prayed for Elia, for her to be well and safe and strong, he prayed for their child to be born healthy and born in the north, he prayed that Oberyn would be patient and restrained and that Prince Doran and Prince Rhaegar would both be ready to act, he prayed that his father would be willing to act when he told him Rhaegar's message and perhaps that Robert and Jon Arryn would come to their aid as well.

More than anything else, he simply prayed that in the end all would be well.

Even though he could tell from the feeling deep in his gut that nothing would be well.

End of Chapter Twenty-Seven

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 **Well guys, that it's for now. Elia and Ned and Oberyn are all out of King's Landing even though all three of them are heading in different directions, Ned to the North, Elia to Casterly Rock and Oberyn to Dorne. Now, in terms of the next couple of chapters the next shall be told from Doran's perspective, the one after from Ned's, the one after that from Elia's and the one after that from Rhaegar's.**

 **However, I am afraid I am going to have to ask all of you to be patient as you might have noticed I've spent a great deal of time recently focusing on this story to the detriment of my others and I would like to spend some time working on others and getting them updated.**

 **To fans of Queen of the North and a Black-Haired Beauty I am afraid I am going to have to disappoint you as I don't plan on updating them before the next chapter of this story but those plans may change so, who knows? I do plan on updating the Dragon Wolves and the Boy in the Broken Tower before the next chapter for this piece.**

 **I also plan on updating other stories of mine outside GOT/ASOIAF as I do not wish to burn myself out with this.**

 **I believe that's all I had planned to say and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, I hope you will considering following, adding this story to your favourites and leaving as a review as it means so much to me to know that there are people out there who enjoy my work.**

 **I would also like to thank everyone who has all ready added Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Son to their follows and favourites and everyone who has left reviews.**

 **Well, that's it. See you all next chapter!**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	28. Chapter 28

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Eight.

Doran smiled as he watched Arianne bite into a blood orange, that he had peeled before hand, and giggled as the juice splashed over her chin and stained it along with her hands, the fruit was overly ripe and it's siblings had splattered the ground around them, he picked up his silk handkerchief and when she was done eating it made certain that he cleaned all of the juice and pulp away. He was certain that if Mellario was here than she would have words for their little Princess for eating so sloppily.

But she was not hear, and in this one moment Arianne could still be a child. Doran did not fear death but for her, and for Quentyn, that he would live a long time still. He did not doubt that his little princess was smart, that one day she would make a great ruler but he didn't want that for her yet, he wanted her to be a child for just a little while longer.

How many times had he wished that he had more time? That he had just one more day when he didn't have to worry about Dorne and how best to protect it, to better protect his family? He would do anything to make sure that Arianne was spared from thoughts like those for as long as possible.

His attention was drawn from his daughter to his son who was sitting at the side of one the many little pools that were scattered all through out the water gardens, his tiny fat little hand hit the water and he giggled loudly with every splash he made in the pool.

His children's septa sat at his side, ready to move if the small boy fell into the water. Aero and a small squad of guards stood around them in a loose circle, ready to fight to the death to protect their prince if they had too.

"Why isn't mama here?" Arianne's small voice brought Doran out of his observations and he turned his head to face her, all the joy that had been in her eyes seemed to have faded while he wasn't looking. It broke his heart too see it. "She's never here when you are, and your never there when she is."

Sometimes it was a curse to have such an insightful child, they could always see the truth of things and did not yet have the tact that was often needed to soften the blows. It must've been hard to see your parents against one another.

In the months that had passed his and Mellario's relationship had been cool, there was still some love there he knew but not much. She was dreadfully unhappy, that was the truth of it. She had few friends here as many in Dorne saw their prince marrying a woman who was not of Dorne as an insult to them and their ancient families.

Even after all this time and blessing him with two children, few in Dorne had warmed to her. His heart went out for his wife but there was little that he could do about it, he may have been the Prince but he couldn't tell the people of his country what to think. If he tried then he would be no better than the Mad King.

She resented him for not being able to do anything, in her mind it must've seemed that he was unwilling to do anything when in fact anything would be further for the truth.

"Your mama is often very busy, little one. She would be here if she could." In truth as a consort Mellario had no true responsibilities but he did not wish his daughter to know that, he didn't want her to think bad of her mother when none of this was her fault, she was just unhappy and she could not control that.

He was unhappy as well, there were times when he wondered where that young man and woman had gone. Perhaps they had killed them.

Arianne did not convinced but she said nothing else even though Doran was certain that he could still see the gears turning behind her mind, he knew that his daughter was truly smart, there were moments when he ever saw a shade of his mother in her. Though, to be true she had little patience but he was certain that in time that she would grow out of that.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of little pattering feet, he turned his head and through the loose circle of his guards he saw a servant boy approaching. Areo knelt down in front of the boy who whispered something into the bearded man's ear, Doran watched his most loyal man's face grow grim which was of some great concern.

Areo was good at hiding his emotions, even from him. To see such emotion on the bearded man's face was clear indication that something was wrong. He stood to his great height once more and patted the boy on the back to send him running along. "My prince." Areo began as he turned to face him. "Prince Oberyn has been spotted by the guards approaching the gardens, he's accompanied by your guards and the servants you sent with him...and by a small host of Dornishmen from other houses."

Doran frowned, he knew that this was coming but he had held out hope that he would at least come here first. "How many?"

"A dozen, many of them seem to be young so it is unlikely they are the lords." There was at least some good news, if they were the lords of their houses then what he might have to do would not be easily taken by the rest of the country, he didn't think that it would go well as it was but at least it might not come to open war.

"Do we knew how long he will be?"

"Any moment now I'd imagine my Prince." Doran nodded and let out a deep sigh.

"Go and fetch my brother, if you would not mind." Areo nodded his head, always happy to obey his prince, before he turned and began to walk away, two guards following him as he went.

"Papa, what's wrong?" Arianne asked and though she tried to hide it Doran was certain that he could hear a little sliver of fear in her voice, she was still just a child for all how clever she was. "Uncle Oberyn isn't going to hurt us, is he?"

Doran wondered how many times his heart could break before it would kill him, and it concerned how often his little girl had the ability to do so. "No, of course not my sweetling. Your uncle would never hurt us, but he's a viper and his anger can get the best of him and make him do things without thinking. I want you to promise me that you will never let anger get the best of you."

"I promise." Arianne muttered with a small sigh before she reached into the middle of the table and plucked a grape from the bronze bowl in the middle of it and popped it in to her mouth, distracting herself by chewing on the grape.

Before long there was the sound of footsteps, three pairs of them. Doran turned his head and his eyes glanced from Areo, to his brother who looked as furious as he had been expecting, to his brother's eldest daughter who not only looked as angry as her father but perhaps even angrier. He supposed that he should count his blessings in the fact that neither of them seemed to be armed.

Though it was not beyond either of them to have weapons hidden. Still, he knew that he wasn't in any true danger.

A shout of delight filled the air as Quentyn got to his feet and ran towards his uncle, his little legs carrying him so fast that his septa could not stop him nor could any of the guards reach down and grab him before he was past them, throwing his arms around his uncle's legs. "Hello uncy!" The boy said happily, a bright smile on his face.

For a moment Oberyn's anger had faded from his face and with a shout he reached down and scooped the boy up into his arms and gave him a small smile. "Hello little one, did you miss me? I'm sure you did, what fun could you have with out me?" He asked and pressed a kiss to Quentyn's forehead before he set him down back on to the ground.

As they came closer the septa stepped forward and looked like she was about to reprimand the boy before she her head and carried the boy back over to the small pool and sat down next to it, this time making sure the boy was firmly settled into her lap so he couldn't run from her again.

"Hello brother." Oberyn said and while, to his credit, he was still angry but he managed to control it better than Doran had expected him too. He gave Arianne a bright smile and ducked to press a kiss to his forehead. "Hello sweetling."

"Good day uncle, are you well?" Arianne said sweetly even as her face scrunched up with suppressed laughter from where her uncle's beard tickled her.

Oberyn's gaze darkened slightly as he pulled away from Arianne and turned to face his older brother. "I'm afraid not, sweetling. But don't worry, I will be soon enough assuming your father isn't going to be a fool."

Doran's eyes narrowed slightly at his brother's words and tone but he choose not to say anything for the moment, it would do no good to give into his anger and cause an argument when there was the slightest chance he could avoid one. "Oberyn, if there is something you would like to speak with me about then I would recommend that you stop making snide comments to my children and instead come and speak to me like a grown man."

Oberyn walked over with a causal swagger and he knelt in front of him, taking his hand and pressing a kiss to his ring before he got back up to his feet, standing to his full height which was not unsubstantial and he was only made taller to Doran's eyes from where he was sitting.

Behind him Obara lingered, her arms, thickly muscled for a girl of her age, were crossed over her chest and a deep frown was set on her face and her viper's eyes burned with a cruel rage, in that moment Doran was never more certain that the girl was his brother's daughter and that was a matter of some concern.

"Elia has been taken, the King had ordered that her marriage to Eddard Stark be dissolved. Which I am sure that I do not need to remind you that he can not do." With every word that Oberyn spoke his anger seemed to grow or at least it became that much more apparent.

"I know." Doran said, keeping his gaze on his brother's face. His little brother was a terrifying man but Doran was still his prince and he would not be cowed by him and he would not be the one to look away, he could not stop a small twitch of his lips when he saw the surprise on his younger brother's face. "The spider is not the only one with little birds, I found out six days ago."

"You...You've known for six days!?" Oberyn roared and stepped forward, Arianne buried her head in her hands, Quentyn began to sob loudly and his sept let out a gasp of shock, Areo quickly raised his long axe and held one of the grey iron blades to Oberyn's throat while the rest of the guards raised their spears, though none of them clearly relished the idea of having to fight their prince.

Obara glared viciously at the large man and Doran couldn't be sure but he thought that he saw the sun glint of something metal in her hand, this was not going the way he had hopped, to put it lightly.

"Please step away my prince, I would hate for you to find out exactly how sharp I keep this axe." Areo said as he kept the axe held high though his voice was nothing short of courteous, as though he was simply admiring how pleasant the sun felt on his skin and was not in fact threating to remove a man's head, Doran was surprised that he did not seem to even hesitate. Simply kept the axe steady.

Oberyn let out a rough snarl of frustration but thankfully, and rarely for his little brother, common sense prevailed and he stepped away. Areo stepped back as well but he did not lower his axe, when Doran glanced over at Obara he was glad to see that he could no longer see anything catching the light of the sun. That would've been unfortunate.

Oberyn took a deep breath to calm himself, keeping his eyes shut as he did so, and then let it out. "If you've known for such a long time, why did I not see a host of ten thousand men waiting on the prince's pass waiting for the orders to march? Why have I not seen ten thousand waiting on the Boneway? why have I not seen any hosts at all? You can not ignore something like this."

"I assure you, I am not ignoring this." Doran said simply and then turned to where the sept was sitting, she was currently busy trying to sooth Quentyn who while no longer sobbing was still sniffling slightly. "Septa, would you be so good as to take my children inside? Send word to the cook to make them a plate of lemon cakes to sooth them."

The septa nodded and stood up, keeping Quentyn close to her and walked over to Arianne and held out her hand for her to take. Arianne sniffled and did not take the hand until she saw her father nod, she took it and leapt out off her chair but before she went inside Doran gently patted her head and sent her off with a smile.

When Doran turned his attention back to his brother he was a little surprised to see him on his knees with his head bowed, holding out his hand. Doran held out his ring hand and Oberyn took it gently before pressing a kiss to his ring. "Do I still have your love, now and always?"

"Always."

"Am I still your brother, now and always?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Then grant me your blessing now brother, I have men of Uller, Yronwood, Wyl, Toland, Fowler, Blackmont, Allyrion and more besides. I will go to all the other houses and raise a great host. We will march up the Kingsroad and I will save Elia and...send her back to her husband." Doran almost didn't hear that last part, it was barely a whisper.

He had not been expecting that to be sure, he had assumed that Oberyn would want Elia brought back here. He must truly approve of Lord Eddard as a husband to their sister, the only problem was that he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"And would you have the entire host march up the kingsroad, where the king who has made this insane decree would see you coming? As mad as he is Aerys Targaryen still as some slim grasp on logic, when he sees a Dornish host marching what do you think he is like to do?" Doran asked as he gazed down at his brother.

"Most likely attack us, to try and kill us and drive us back. Which is why we will be a diversion. A second host will go through the Boneway, Robert Baratheon is Ned Stark's foster brother and when he hears what has happened he will not stop us from going through the Stormlands, they will go to the Westerlands and get Elia and fall back. When word arrives that Elia is safe we will fall back and if they are mad enough to follow us then we will bleed them in pass and the way. Elia will be put on a ship and sent to White Harbour where her loving husband will be waiting."

Doran had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised, all things considered it was certainly not the worst plan he had ever heard. But alas, it could not be. "No, Oberyn. Elia will be a hostage in Casterly Rock and we have no hostages, we can not ensure her safety. I will think on this matter some more."

Oberyn's eyes darkened and he slowly got to his feet. "So, you will do nothing? Our sister is in the lions jaws and you will do nothing, that is your response to this crime? This travesty?"

"I am not doing nothing, I am-

"Oh, yes. I know. You sit here in these water gardens, you plot and you wait, and you plot and you wait." Oberyn reached down and picked up one of the overripe blood oranges which had smashed into pulp against the ground. "These are you plots, Doran. You wait for the right moment and yet, the right moment never seems to come, so you plot some more but you never act!" He shouted as he threw the pulp at his feet, Doran did not flinch as the pulp splattered against his feet.

"Are you done?" Doran asked, his voice showing a clam that he did not feel.

"No, Elia is pregnant."

"What?" Doran breathed.

"Pregnant, with child, there is a babe in her belly." Oberyn spoke as though he was dealing with a dim child and not his prince, from behind him Obara snorted loudly. "Will not even that force you to act?"

Doran closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "No."

Oberyn spat at his feet and glared at his brother. "When the Maester said that you legs were beginning to fail you, he said it was because they were starting to rot. He was wrong, it was because you had no spine. If you can not do this then I shall do it, no true Dornishman would ever leave his princess in the lion's jaws." Oberyn turned and began to walk away but Doran reached out and grabbed his sleeve and started up at him.

"You are my baby brother, I meant what I said. You will always have my love and you will always be my brother. I pray that you live a long and happy life, filled with love and joy and pleasure, speak to me that way again, scare my children like that again, and you won't. You will still be my brother when you are dead." Doran hissed and roughly shoved Oberyn's arm away.

For just a moment Doran thought he saw something that looked like fear, and hurt, in his brother's dark eyes but as soon as it was there, it faded away. Doran scoffed and turned away, storming off. His daughter followed after him.

"My prince, what would you have off me?" Areo asked as soon as Oberyn was far enough away that he would not hear. Doran stared at his brother's retreating back for a long hard moment, and when he could no longer see him he let out a long, hard breath.

"Find Maester Caleotte and take these guards with you, I shall be fine. My brother, his daughters and all the men he has brought with him are to be placed under arrest. The Maester must be there to treat any injuries and deal with any poison my brother would use. This must be bloodless, can you do as I have asked?" Doran asked as he stared into his old friend's eyes.

"I will not say it will not be difficult, but I will see it done to the best of my ability." Areo spoke and Doran nodded as he gazed down at the blood oranges.

"Then, see it done Captain." Areo nodded and turned to leave, the guards following him. Doran watched until they were out of sight and then he released a weary sigh that seemed to make his bones shake. How did his mother ever do this, day in and day out? Making the choices to keep her people safe, to keep all of Dorne safe even from themselves?

The men from the houses who come with Oberyn would have to be kept as...guests, he was certain that the houses they came from would have more sense than to call for way but it was best to have some for insurance in this regard. Even as he hated himself for it.

He sat there in the shade of tree until the sky turned orange and the shadows grew longer and the air gained a chill, he shut his eyes for a moment and almost felt himself slipping away into a sleep when he heard the footsteps approaching. When he opened his eyes he was half expecting to see Oberyn standing there, a spear in his hands and dripping from head to toe in blood with a look of rage on his face.

But, he only saw Areo.

"It is done my prince, Prince Oberyn and his daughters have been locked into separate rooms, I decided to let the two little one be in the same room with their septa. If it please you." Once he saw Doran nodded he carried on. "I have also had your brother's...guests, placed in their own rooms as well."

"They are to be treated as kings." Doran said with a sigh and he began to fish around at the side of his chair to look for his walking stick. "Any injuries?"

"Your brother killed two of the guards, Obara stabbed another's eye out but he'll live. A few others suffered scrapes, Caleotte is seeing to them." Doran sighed when he heard of the guard, he wondered who was more responsible for their deaths. Oberyn for killing them, or himself for sending them.

"I see." He muttered as he finally found his walking stick and pushed himself up to his feet, holding in a groan as he did so. "Would you walk with me? I would like to see my little brother."

Areo nodded but said nothing more, he offered his arm to support him and Doran took it. Grateful for the extra support as with each day that passed, walking seemed to grow ever more difficult.

The room Oberyn had been placed in was beautiful, closed off with no way to the outside other than the door so he would try nothing foolish. Oberyn did not look beautiful at that moment, rage his twisted his face into something ugly and he was certain that if it were not for Areo being present that his brother would attack him there and then.

"Are you so craven, so scared of that mad man and Tywin Lannister that you would lock your own blood away rather than face them!?"

"Some would say that only a fool would not fear men such as them, I have never been a fool. Nor am I a craven, despite what you might think." Doran kept his voice cool, he had indulged in his anger one time too many today and he would do so no more. "You've brought this on yourself, you've always acted to rashly."

"How long am I meant to be kept in here?" Oberyn said with a disgusted scoff as he sunk down at the table in the middle of the room. "You can't keep me in here forever."

"I do not intend, just long enough for you to calm down and for me to prepare." Doran had no more to say and turned away and made his way out of the room, as soon as he stepped out into the corridor he Oberyn calling from behind him. "You can't do this, Doran! You can not do this! Dorne won't stand for it when they here! Doran! Doran! Doran!"

When the door was shut and firmly looked Areo came in front of Doran. "My prince, what is to be done."

"They are to be kept here until I decided to release them, until then I shall be returning to Sunspear to spread the word." Doran let out another sigh, already feeling twenty years older than he was. "Let the king know what a loyal ally he has in the Prince of Dorne."

End of Chapter Twenty-Eight.

* * *

 **Well, there we go another chapter. I know I said I was going to spend some time away from this story, but I got impatient and couldn't wait any longer so I decided to update. Consider it an early Christmas present, I hope you enjoyed and that you will please, follow, favourite and my personal favourite, review.**

 **Thank you!**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	29. Chapter 29

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Nine.

It had been a long and hard ride back from King's Landing to the north and it seemed much longer than it should have, perhaps the heavy rain that seemed to have plagued them day in and day out made the ride more unpleasant than it should be, or maybe it was simply the fact that Ned wanted to get back as soon as possible. He knew that they had to pace themselves but he couldn't wait around, anything could be happening to Elia while she was in the Westerlands.

Tywin Lannister had no reason to hurt her but he couldn't say the same for any of his nights, foul stories about some of the knights that served him had even reached the North. One of them, Ser Gregor, sounded like something out of one Old Nan's darker stories, a monster in the shape of a man.

When Ned had seen him at the tourney he could easily believe that all the stories about him were true, along with being known as the mountain it was said that he was Lord Tywin's dog and was capable of the most monstrous acts, rapes and murders and slaying babes and children.

The idea of a man like that being that close to Elia with no one to protect her, it terrified him. He had tried to be strong for her back in King's Landing but now that they were all away from that terrible place he allowed himself to feel the fear even though he could not let it show in front of his men, his father's men.

They were so loyal, they did not complain no matter how hard he pushed them in his desire to get back to the North, to Winterfell and his family, as soon as possible.

It felt like centuries since he had last seen his home, all the time in King's Landing he had dreamt of Winterfell when ever he slept, even if it was only for a moment after falling asleep in the sun. He dreamed of the high grey walls and the tall towers, he dreamed of the glass gardens even though he never enjoyed being inside them as they were always too warm, he dreamed of the springs and the warm pools and that night that he and Elia had spent in one of them before they had decided to go to King's Landing.

He dreamed of his father, sitting in his solar with a fire roaring in his heath and smelling like the north, he dreamt of Brandon with bright smiles on his face and his laughter, he always laughed so very easily. He had dreamt of Lyanna, riding her horse in the yard and through the flat plains.

She had always been half horse, she had never been happier when she was riding.

He dreamed of Benjen, swinging his practice sword in the yard and yelling about he would be the greatest swordsman who had ever lived, he dreamed of Old Nan and all the stories she had ever told him, of the weirwood tree and it's carved face which cried red tears, the smell of baked bread hot from the ovens and the heat of the forges.

He had dreamed of Elia, laying in their bed, her black curls spread over the pillows and a soft smile on her lips, sometimes her belly was still round with the life that they had made and sometimes the babe had already been born and was feeding at her breast, though he never found out if it was a girl or a boy before he woke.

There were other dreams, dreams of all the children they would have together, dozens of them running around his halls. Perhaps they would outnumber Walder Frey in time. Those were among his favourites.

But on the return to the North all his sweet dreams had turned to ashes and were replaced with nightmares, they had plagued him every night and while he came to dread it everyday he knew that he had to sleep. He some nights managed to get a few hours of restless sleep but it never did much to make him feel rested.

He imagined that he would not be able to sleep until Elia was back safely at his side, one of his nightmares had been cruel. He had dreamed that he had returned to Winterfell and Elia had been waiting for him the godswood, the red leaves were falling all around her and she was gazing into the pool.

But when she stood and turned to face him her mouth was gone, there had been only skin that was pulled tight over where her mouth should've been her eyes were black and red tears were running from them, behind her the red leaves of the weirwood tree burst into flames and the ashes fell to the forest floor. From all around he could hear screaming, the sound threatened to burst his skull.

It was only when he was shaken awake by a pale faced bannerman, a Karstark, that he realised that he was actually dreaming. He was only glad that he didn't have to talk about it, though it wasn't as if he needed to explain. News of what had happened had spread through the red keep and all the north men that were present had heard of it.

The Karstarks, Umbers, Mormonts, Manderlys and Glovers had been sent to represent the north as a whole while Eddard could represent the Starks, only he and the small group of guards he had brought had rode directly from the Red Keep but outside the city, a few miles away from the walls they were soon followed and while host could not match the grand Lannister one that had left it was certainly greater than what had come before.

There had only been a few people of note, that he could see. One of the Mormonts who had come was Lady Maege Mormont, the aunt of the new lord of Bear Island, Jorah Mormont. Her brother had joined the night's watch almost a year ago now.

Everyone else was either the son or brother or daughter or sister or cousin of their lord, sent to represent their house as not every Lord in the north could simply drop everything to come south for every tourney, every Lord in the south seemed to throw one at the drop off a hat after all.

It was only because that tourney was thrown by the king and was celebrating the betrothal of Cersei Lannister and Rhaegar Targaryen that so many northern houses even bothered to show up.

He was glad of the company as he went back north, the larger numbers made him feel more secure. Many in the host had suggested while they were still close enough to King's Landing that they could launch an assault on the Lannister host to try and get Elia back but he knew that he could not do that. Even combined with the Dornish host they still probably didn't have enough numbers to get Elia back and even if they did her life and the life of their babe would be in danger.

Besides, Oberyn was already riding back to Dorne and the Lannister host was racing back to Casterly Rock, they would have to turn back to go after them and they would be far beyond their reach by the time they even made it back to King's Landing.

So, he had simply kept riding as fast as he could back to the north, only stopping when they absolutely had too. There were few stops, they was an unspoken agreement that they would not stop at any hold fasts, there was always a chance that some minor lord's singer or mummer or servant could spread the word that a large host of northmen were hurrying back home.

They did not need men after them.

They made good time, they had reached the inn at the crossroads in seventeen days and stayed there for two to regain their strength before setting back off. He had wanted to leave on the morrow after their arrival but he knew that would not be fair to the men and women that followed him, they needed to rest and eat and so did he even if he did not want to admit it.

Three days later they had made it to the edge of the Neck and hurried down the causeway as fast as they could, he thought about staying at Greywater Watch and sending a raven to his father from there but he decided against it, he wanted to get on the other side of Moat Cailin as soon as possible and he remembered that the neck had no Maester and no ravens, there was no point as no one could ever find Greywater Watch.

It did sadden him a little, he wouldn't have minded stopping at Greywater Watch if he could've justified it to himself. He would've liked to see Howland Reed again, on the way down from Winterfell they had stayed here for five days, Lord Reed had been a an accommodating host and Howland Reed an excellent companion.

He had shown Ned how to forage for mushrooms and other edible fungus, showed him what plants were safe to eat and which weren't and how to use a trident and a net to catch frogs and fish. In truth he didn't think he was very good at any of it, the crannogmen were much smaller and more graceful than the men of the north and could more easily catch the small creatures from the rivers and bogs that dominated the neck.

According to some stories the reason they were smaller was because the people who had lived in the neck before it had been flooded when the Andels had bred with the children of the forest who had gone now. How true that was Ned didn't know and he did not wish to ask in case Lord Reed took offense to the question.

He had offered to the rest of the host that if they wished to stay and rest then they could but none of them had taken up the offer, they wanted to stay with their lord's son until he reached Winterfell. The loyalty the men of the north had to his father, to his house, touched him.

After another two days of traveling through the neck they had finally made it to the other side, the sight of the broken towers of Moat Cailin reaching up into the sky to meet them was quite possibly the most beautiful thing that Ned had ever seen in his entire life.

Well, Elia was more beautiful but she wasn't a thing.

From then it took them another ten days to reach Winterfell, after they had passed Moat Cailin Ned had offered once again to allow all those who followed him leave to return to their own homes but they had all refused, they would return to their homes when they saw Lord Eddard safely home and no sooner.

When he finally saw the round towers and grey walls of Winterfell appearing out of the thick mist that had descended on them that morning he had changed his mine, this was truly the most beautiful sight in the entire world. This was home.

As his host approached however they had to slow down, Winterfell was not alone, all around it were small tents that surrounded it like a lumpy, grey field. There were thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of men walking around the tents and hustling down next to cookfires where a sow on a spit or a deer or even an auroch were slowly roasting.

There were hundreds of banners, among them he could see those of the men and women who had followed him back, the flayed man of House Bolton, the Battle-axe of house Cerwyn, the blacksword and horseshoes of House Ironsmith, the two bronze keys of House Locke, the Ironwood tree of House Forrester, the hills of House Whitehill and two different banners of both branches of House Flint, which probably meant that the mountain Flints were here as well.

"It's a good thing we didn't head home Lord Eddard, there probably wouldn't be anyone waiting for us." Maege Mormont said as she rode up next to him, her mossy green eyes scanning the large camp. "I do not think that I have ever seen this many men in one place before."

"Aye." Lord Rickon Umber, an old man, though you would not be able to tell that he was as old as he was despite most his children being grown men, nearly seven feet tall with a large bushy grey beard said as he rode up to Ned's right. "I imagine my Jon is somewhere in all that, god knows it shouldn't be too hard to find him. He's even bigger than I am, came screaming out his mother already the height of a lad of ten and with his first whiskers.

"My Lord." Lady Morment called his attention. "With you leave I would like to try and find my nephew, without me he's probably already burnt Bear Island to the ground."

Ned let her go with his blessing and said the same to the rest of them, Ned began to ride through the camp nodding his head to all the men, lowborn and highborn, who called his name and shouted 'Winterfell!' as he rode up to the portcullis of Winterfell.

As his horse carried him inside of the courtyard and a stable boy came over to his horse to help him dismount Ned's head shot up when he heard a sweet voice calling his name. "Ned!"

"Lyanna!" Ned jumped from his horse and ran over to his little sister, picking her up and swinging her in his arms. Such a feat had never been difficult for him as he had been doing such a thing since Lyanna was old enough and no matter how old she grew he had always found that his sister held no weight in his arms but he found himself noticing that she seemed lighter than usual, he wondered if she had been eating enough.

He also wondered when he had become such a mother hen.

He quickly placed her back down on the ground so he could get a proper look at her, her skin was pale and she seemed smaller than he remembered. Her black hair which only fell straight down to her back had been cut and now curled around her face. "I've missed you little sister."

"I've missed you as well Ned, every day. We all have." Lyanna said with a smile as she pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. "Mind you, you've put on a bit of weight Ned. I shouldn't blame you after all, you've been in the south ages I should be glad you didn't come back dressed in silks and smelling of roses."

Ned chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Lyanna, what is going on?" He asked as he pulled away. "Why does it look like our Father is ready to march off to war?" He thought that he already knew the answer but a part of him prayed that he was wrong.

"He knows what happened with the king, Elia's been shipped off to Casterly Rock? What actually happened?"

"How does he know?" Ned asked in disbelief, they had been so careful in no one finding out. Had Oberyn gotten to Dorne and his brother had sent a bird, would a raven from Dorne make it to Winterfell before Ned did? Even if that did happen it couldn't have gotten here so far before him that his father had managed to summon all of his bannermen.

"I think Jon Arryn sent him a bird, that isn't the important part Ned!" Lyanna shouted, sounding utterly exasperated with him. "What happened!? How did the king break your marriage?!"

Ned was so thrown with wondering how Jon had found out that he didn't hear his sister's question, she had to repeat it with slapping his arm for emphasis. "He didn't, it's hard to explain but he wanted to make sure that Jamie Lannister couldn't inherit Casterly Rock in order to hurt Lord Tywin for some reason and he can't inherit if he can't have trueborn children and he can't do that if he can't marry and he can't marry if he's trapped in a betrothal which will never become a marriage."

"And the betrothal is a royal command, it can't be refused. But the King can't break apart any marriage so they both trapped." Lyanna muttered, more to herself than to Ned as though she was starting to slowly piece it all together.

"Yes, and we couldn't risk defying him. We were in King's Landing at the time." Everyone knew what happened to those who defied the Mad King, he had to count himself lucky that no one had been burned during their time in King's Landing.

Lyanna nodded while biting her lip. "Anyway, Father knew that you were coming and he told me to tell you to meet him in the great hall."

Ned nodded and began to make his way to the Great Hall, Lyanna following behind him. Laughter and music could be heard from inside the keep and they pushed through the large doors, and there sitting at the high table on the raised dais, was Lord Rickard Stark.

The last time that Ned had seen him, the day that he and Elia had left Winterfell, he had still been recovering from his heart attack and had to lean on Brandon to help him stand as his skin had been as pale as the snow outside. The Maester had been complaining about it, saying he should not be outside but his father had paid him no heed and insisted that he would see his second eldest son and his wife off.

Now? You would never be able to tell that there was a time that they had thought that the Lord of House Stark would die asleep in his bed, his skin had returned to a healthy colour and he was sitting up straight in his chair with a flagon of ale in his hand as he laughed at something Lord Cerwyn had said.

But the laughter had died on his lips as he heard the doors opened and watch as his children approached him on the high table. "My son." He said as he watched Ned and Lyanna kneel before him, he stood to his feet and raised his voice. "I beg everyone leave so I may speak with my children, good maester would you please bring Brandon and Benjen here as well, oh and the Lady Ashara and the Lady Catelyn as well."

The lords and ladies in the hall quickly filled out, as soon as they had all gone and the Maester had slipped out of a side door their father walked around the table and stepped down to his children, even at this distance he still had to look down at Ned. For a moment the two of them held each others gaze before his father quickly wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close for a hug.

Ned was shocked, it had been a very long time since he had received a hug from his father, the last time had been when he had been small enough to think his father was tall enough that he must've simply built all the towers in Winterfell like Ned had made them in the snow, it had been before he was sent off to the Eyrie to ward, it had been before...before his mother had died.

After she had died, there were times like it had seemed that all the warmth had fled from his father, like his life's blood had frozen. Ned wasn't a fool or so blind as to think that he had loved her, he knew that he hadn't and he knew that his mother hadn't loved his father either but the two of them had been companions for a very long time, they had made four children together.

You can't be together that long without feeling something for one another, they had been cousins on top of it so maybe Ned had it wrong. Maybe they had loved one another they just...hadn't loved one another the way that a husband and wife should've loved one another.

As selfish as it was, Ned was glad that he could say that wasn't the sort of love that he and Elia had, they loved one another. Ned loved her so much that he found it surprising, people always said that he was always so reserved. So solemn and cold, Elia had never found him cold.

Maybe she had warmed him, a wolf that howled and basked in the sun and not the moon. He would have it no other way.

"My son, I am so sorry." His father said as stepped away from the hug first and cupped his face. "I promise you that I am not ignoring this, I just need to think and decide what is the best way to act. Lord Arryn informed me of what happened and he has decided to inform Lord Robert and Lord Hoster, if Lord Hoster agrees then I plan on moving the wedding of Brandon and Catelyn up."

"As you say Father." Ned didn't have much of a choice regardless, his Father was the lord and Brandon was his heir. Ned was only his second son and he needed to trust that they would make the correct decisions, he had no real authority.

"We will get her back, I promise you Ned."

"We'd get her back a lot sooner if we marched our men down the causeway and take the Lannisters by surprise." Brandon's booming voice cut through the quite of the great hall and Ned turned to face him, his big brother hadn't changed much. Still tall, still handsome and still a woman hanging off his arm and still barely noticing that Ned even existed, the only difference was that his beard was a bit longer.

Said woman was Lady Catelyn, still as beautiful as ever with her pretty blue eyes and her shinny red hair. She gave him a gentle smile when she saw him and her eyes told of the sympathy she wanted to express but knew that this wasn't the time for it.

Behind the both of them was Lady Ashara, her dark hair fell down to her back and her purple eyes were as beautiful as ever but there was something else in them as well, anger. A rage that Ned had never seen before, it darkened her eyes which always seemed to dance between lilac and lavender but were now a dark indigo, her lips were set into a firm line. She was still beautiful, but it was a harsh beauty.

He had almost missed Benjen but he was there at the side of Ashara, he had seemed to have grown a little since Ned had been gone but only by a few inches and he thought that he saw what could be the beginning of a beard on his chin. Benjen smiled at him and Ned could not help but smile back.

"Honestly Father, what was even the point in summoning them here if all you are going to do is feast and drink with them? We shouldn't have to suffer this. Give me command of our forces and I'll have Elia back here in under a moon, two moons as the most." Brandon boasted with the grin that always graced his face, as if all life was a jape and only he got the joke.

"You do not lack for confidence." Their father said as he turned his gaze from Ned to his eldest son, he did not seemed amused by his son. He climbed the dais and sat back in the lord's seat. "And tell me Brandon, how do you plan on getting her back? How shall you reach the Lannisters and attack Casterly Rock without them being made aware of a host that is near thirty-five thousand strong marching on them?"

"We shall go across the bridge at the twins." Brandon said as if that explained everything.

"It would certainly give you a chance to get to Casterly Rock faster, I will admit to that. But the Riverlands are not the westerlands, you still have a way to travel. How do you know that a minor riverlord who might want a favour from Tywin would not send word of your coming? How do you know that it would not come from Lord Frey himself? In fact, to go backwards slightly how do you know that he would even let you pass?"

"He's Hoster Tully's bannerman, I am going to marry Hoster Tully's daughter." Brandon pointed out.

"He is Hoster Tully's bannerman and you are going to marry Lady Catelyn, you grasp of the obvious is astonishing Brandon. I am so very proud." Their father mocked and Lyanna let out a snort of laughter and Benjen let out a chuckle, even Ned couldn't stop himself from grinning slightly.

Even Lady Catelyn and Lady Ashara seemed some what amused.

Brandon did not but he knew better than to say anything in retaliation.

"A betrothal is, normally, an agreement between two lords and at any moment one of them could change their mind and end it. Hoster Tully could do that at any time, all too soon we could be nothing to Walder Frey and do you think he would let us pass out of the goodness of his heart? Even if he would he would send word to Hoster Tully and see what he wants and you would be sit waiting for who knows how long and he would send word to Lord Tywin as well, I know Walder Frey and he would not want to incur his wrath."

"And if he did let you pass and if you did get all the way to the Westerlands, what then? You would lay siege on Casterly Rock? Lord Tywin might allow you to do so far a day, let you think you have him before he showed Elia with a knife to her throat and threatened to slit her throat himself if you didn't stop." Rickard explained as he poured himself a cup of ale. "And he would do it, Tywin Lannister does not make idle threats."

"Then why did you summon the banners if you had no intention of marching?" Brandon asked, Ned could tell he was getting frustrated by the way his hands were clenching and that sweat was rolling down his chin and neck.

"Did I say that I had no intention of marching? I have no intention of marching today and getting us all killed at worst and getting only Elia killed at best, we have to wait. I need to wait for messages from Robert Baratheon and Hoster Tully and Jon Arryn and Doran Martell and I have to send letters back to them, I have to see where Mace Tyrell and Balon Greyjoy will fall and we need to see where Tywin himself will stand, from what I gathered he seemed as unwilling a part of this as we do."

Ned nodded, that was true enough. This was all part of the Mad King's plan to humiliate Lord Tywin and he had not been happy but would even that be enough to get the old lion to march against his king? They had been friends once, according to the few stories that Ned knew and Lord Tywin had been the hand of the king once on top of it, plus his daughter was wed to the prince, she was going to be the queen and despite what the letter said...it was too big a risk. They couldn't trust him, Ned was certain of that much at least.

And considering all that happened, it may be a little thing but it fell good to be certain of one thing at least.

"So all our bannermen are just going to sit out there in the cold while you decide when to march?" Brandon asked with a loud scoff and a shake of his head. "Northmen may be loyal, but even we aren't that loyal."

"That wasn't why I summoned them, that is your problem Brandon you do not look deep enough. Summoning them due to what has happened to Elia is a good pretext but that isn't the whole reason. They need to see that I am a strong lord, that my...illness has not kept me down, they also needed to see that I wasn't ignoring the matter. Liege lords have been overthrown before, the Starks have ruled the North for thousands of years and I will make certain that it will rule it for thousands more but such a thing is not easy, it is a risky dance we do. How powerful are we if all our bannermen turn against us?"

"They wouldn't do that."

"How certain of that can you be? Honestly? You will sit where I sit one day Brandon, learn a lesson that my own father taught me once and he did not do it nearly as kindly as I now teach it to you. Trust no one and you will never be hurt." His father's voice had suddenly become so solemn and perhaps it was only the light of the torches but his eyes seemed wet.

Brandon said nothing, simply stared at their father for a time before with a loud huff he turned around and stormed out of the hall, slamming the doors with such force that Ned was certain that he heard the wood splinter. Catelyn stepped forward and performed a deep curtsey. "I am certain that my Lord Father will be more than willing to aid you Lord Stark, we are to be family and nothing is more important to House Tully than that."

Rickard nodded and offered Lady Catelyn a cool smile and granted her leave to go when she asked it, as soon as she left the building and was certain she was out of earshot he spoke. "A sweet woman to be certain, and more intelligent than Brandon thinks but all in all sadly irrelevant I think."

"She's going to be the Lady of Winterfell, Father." Ned pointed out with a frown.

"Yes she is, when I am dead and rotting in the crypts. Everything is rather irrelevant then don't you think?" He said with a low laugh but his face scrunched up and he let out a low groan, Lyanna gasped and ran to their father's side, getting down to her knees at the side of his chair.

"Father, are you alright?" She asked as she held his hand and felt his brow, for a moment for Rickard Stark didn't speak but it was only for a moment before he let out a gasp of breath and nodded his head.

"I'm fine my love, a passing pain is all."

"Are you certain, should I not fetch the Maester?" Lyanna asked, clearly not sounding sooth as she slowly climbed to her feet.

"I am certain, do not worry so. Why don't you and Benjen go and spar in the godswood?" Rickard suggested as straightened himself in his seat and smiled at her.

"How do you know about that?" Benjen called from behind his sister, his eyes wide and his skin paled as he clearly thought that he was in trouble for play fighting with his sister.

"I'm your Father, there is nothing I don't know about the two of you." That clearly did little to sooth Benjen and Lyanna seemed unsettled, Rickard let out a chuckle. "Both of you go, it might be the last chance that either of you get in a very long while."

Neither of the two youngest Starks complained or object and they made their own way out of the hall and soon enough it was only Lord Rickard, Ashara and Ned left in the hall.

"Let me go to her." Ned turned his head to Lady Ashara who was standing there with her hands clenched and with determination shinning along with anger in her eyes. "Elia is my sister and she is all alone there, trapped with those people, with no one that she can trust at her side. I will not leave her, let me go to her."

"Forgive me Lady Ashara but I can not allow that, you know why I cannot." Ned noticed that his father's face had become impassive, like a stone and his eyes were like grey ice.

"Prince Doran only sent me north so I could act as Elia's lady, how can I do that when I am here and she is there? You are making me disobey a command from my prince." Ashara spat, for a moment her face was twisted by blind rage.

"I am certain that Prince Doran would understand, and even if I did let you go do you honestly think Lord Tywin would take you? Actually, now that I think of it he might if only so he could have two captives instead of just one." He shook his head. "Do not ask me again, my answer will be the same. Go to your daughter Lady Ashara."

Ashara muffled a scream of irritation before she spun on her feet and stormed out of the hall. Rickard sighed. "You will never have the support of all the people, you will always have people who hate you. It could be because that hate a decision you make or because they are envious of what you have. It can be so difficult, and painful."

"Aye Father, as you say." Ned said as he watched Lady Ashara leave and slam the door, he let out a sigh and turned to face him. "Forgive me for saying it, but I am glad I am not going to be a liege lord."

"Perhaps not." And then his father smiled a smile that Ned did not know what to think off.

"What?"

"It matters not, I'm tired and speaking nonsense. I should go and sleep and so should you, most like someone will be demanding another feast to celebrate your return. Off you go to bed and yes it is a command." Ned knew better than to argue with his father and was about to leave the great hall when he remembered something.

"Father?"

"Hm?"

"Prince Rhaegar spoke to Elia on the day we arrived in King's Landing, he gave her two letters and asked to make sure that they were delivered. One was for you, and one was for Doran Martell."

His father sat up and gazed into his eyes. "I see, where are these letters?"

"Elia had to burn them, she couldn't take the risk that they would be found on our persons when tried to leave, Oberyn memorised him as I did with mine. Father, Rhaegar is trying to overthrow and arreast his father and he's asking for your support, he's already in league with Tywin Lannister." Ned allowed a few moments to let it sink in.

His father rubbed at his chin for a moment and had his eyes closed, he opened them and spoke though it was barely above a whisper. "I will need to think on this, you will tell none of this to no one."

Ned nodded and his father sent him on his way, so he left the great hall and made his way to the great keep.

He didn't realise how exhausted he was as he finally made it to his room and collapsed on to his bed, he shut his eyes and could already feel the darkness surrounding him. All he could hope was that his dreams would be sweet.

And that soon life would follow it's example.

End of Chapter Twenty-Nine.

* * *

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, while he wasn't the POV I really enjoyed writing Rickard Stark in this chapter. We know so little about him and are unlikely to know any more than we do but I hope you enjoyed the version of him that I presented and that he isn't too out of character.**

 **One reviewer noticed that Oberyn did not tell Doran about the letter from Rhaegar, I assure you he did not forget about it and there is a reason for it.**

 **Now, on a celebratory note I do think that if I've done my math right this chapter should take this story over one hundred thousands words and I am so happy about that I would just like to thank everyone who followed, favourite and reviewed. It means so, so much to me.**

 **Thank you!**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	30. Chapter 30

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty.

Elia sighed as she glanced down at her needlework, she was normally quite good at this but now she found that she couldn't find any inspiration. It wouldn't be too bad except it wasn't as if she had anything else to do to occupy her time on the long slow crawl to Casterly Rock.

The Lannister host was a colossal beast and even getting the entire thing to move even one league was something that took an entire day, the wheelhouse was not helping matters. It was certainly comfortable enough, the pillows were plump and there was enough room for ten ladies to sit comfortably and feast and even sleep inside but it was far too large, with each turn of it's wheels it threatened to snap and at least twelve times they had to stop so the wheels could be repaired.

The company left something to be desired as well, all the ladies were related to the Lannisters, were Lannisters or were Lannister bannermen. She couldn't expect any sympathy from any of them and even if she could she couldn't trust any of them to keep their mouths shut about what she said to them.

She was completely on her own.

Genna Lannister had certainly been trying to be welcoming and Elia had to admit that if things were different then she would've liked spending time with her, everyone clearly respected her and her elder brothers clearly respected her opinion and it was clear to Elia that while Joanna Lannister had died the position of Lady of Lannister had not died with her.

Still, she hadn't tried to force her to talk when it became clear that Elia wasn't going to talk to her she didn't choose to waste her time any more. The other ladies who wanted the approval of their liege lord followed Genna's example and did not speak to her. Elia imagined that she would've felt lonely except that she already did feel that even when they were trying to talk to her, at least none of them had tried to touch her bump or she might have punched them in the eye.

The only time that the loneliness abated was, ironically, when she was on her own. Sadly there was not much time for that, the host obviously did stop so that the horses could be watered and fed and during that time the ladies inside the wheelhouse could stretch their legs but Elia was always accompanied by two guards in crimson plate and another lady from the wheelhouse.

In truth Elia did not understand why Lord Tywin was so intent on keeping her guarded, he was clearly as unhappy with this arrangement as the rest of them were but it wasn't as if she could ask as he had been at the head of the host with his brother and Ser Jamie, when he did come to the wheelhouse it was only to fetch his sister so that he could ask her counsel on some matter that had occurred to him.

The few moments of peace she had been able to get is where she had begged the guards to simply stand a few feet away from her, pleading and promising that she would stay in their sight and pointing out that in her dress she could hardly escape from them on foot and she had no horse that could ride away on and she could not steal one without being recognised.

So for a few moments she would sit down next to a small stream in the middle of a forest or sit in a meadow and listen to birds and for just a moment she would forget where she was and where she was going and could convince herself that the host was taking her home, back to Winterfell, back to Ned, when she stroked over her grown belly she could convince herself that it was her solemn husband who was touching it and the tears that fell were ones of joy.

But then she would feel the armoured hand of one of the Lannister guards cutting into her delicate solider and the spell would be broken all too soon and she would be sent back to the wheelhouse with whatever lady had been chosen to chaperone her for that day.

After a fortnight's worth of travel Elia found that the surroundings had become vaguely familiar to her, the forests began to clear out and became flat fields and everywhere that she looked there were hills in the distance, they had soon passed the castle of Deep Den and while it had been over ten years since Elia had been in the westerlands, she knew that there journey was almost over.

They had almost reached the Rock.

"A lovely piece of work, my dear." Genna Lannister's voice was not particularly loud but there was something in it that made a person pay attention when she spoke, she had put aside her own needlework and was now focused on slowly devouring a plate of lemon tarts as she gazed at Elia's work. "I am quite useless when it comes to such fine detail, my hands are too large."

"You always make such lovely work Sister." A pretty woman, perhaps nearing her fiftieth year, spoke kindly and with a shy smile as she put her own work to the side.

"Untrue flattery will not ender you to me Dorna, and do not call me sister. I have no sisters, you are my Brother's wife and nothing more." The woman's voice was stern but not unkind though she did not seem to notice that the other woman's face had fallen as she turned to look back at Elia's needlework. "Truly exquisite, though I must confess ignorance to the subject."

"It is meant to be Nymeria, the warrior queen and her ten thousand ships." It was an image that most Dornish girls learned to embroider in their sleep though Elia did not delude herself into thinking that even at her best she would be able to perfectly capture the subject. "It is not my best work, to capture the motion of the ships is difficult and I do not do it justice-"

"The only thing I hate more than untrue flattery is false modesty, take pride in your accomplishments. We women are allowed too few of them as it is. You've made an excellent piece of work and I've complimented it accordingly. Nothing more." And with that note of finality the conversation was clearly over as the lioness turned back to her plate of treats.

Elia had to admit that if things were different she would most likely enjoy the older woman's company, in some ways she reminded her of her own mother. The Princess of Dorne hated untrue flattery aswell and she had been subjected to it constantly. Her mother had told her that men only said those things because she was a woman and they thought that she was vain enough to fall for it and become putty in their hands, it was a part of the game and the game never ended and she found a way to use it against them.

Someone told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world? She would send him to find one more beautiful than her as proof. Someone told her that they would gladly fight and die for her honour? She offered to conscript them into House Martell's forces as solider so he could do just that. Arrows were words, that was the first lesson that Loreza Martell had taught any of her children, when they were loosed you could not take them back and if you did not stand by your words then they meant nothing.

And that was how Elia began to learn to play the game, every lesson their mother taught could be applied to the game and Elia would need them now more than ever before. She was trapped with no friends, how she was going to survive her own she didn't know?

She wished that Ashara was with her.

The wheelhouse suddenly jolted and there was a loud snap and it began to tilt to the side, Elia's hands quickly going to hold her bump, there was no noise in the wheelhouse except for a few gasps of surprise and Elia was glad of that, if they had screamed every time it happened then she might have bashed her head in against the wall. The door swung open and a man in Lannister crimson poked his head in. "Pardon, my ladies. We need to fix the hind wheel again."

There were mummers of disappointment but no complaints, a lady did not complain after all. She hid her disapproval behind her wall of curtsey, Genna was helped out first and Elia held back until all the other ladies were out before she allowed the Lannister guard to help her out of the wheelhouse and on to the soft ground below.

It was early in the morning and had been raining but none in the wheelhouse had heard it or felt the chill, the inside had been so warm and it was built so that none of them would hear any noise from the outside. The air was fresh and Elia took a deep breath, she found that she preferred being out in the chill than in the wheelhouse.

As always with the wheelhouse the fact that it had stopped had caused the entire column to stop as well and Elia was certain that she could hear curses oft in the distance, as loud as they were vulgar.

It would take close to an hour to fix the broken wheel, which clearly annoyed a lot of the ladies including Genna as Lannisport and Casterly Rock were only a little over an hour away from where they were. Elia personally didn't mind, it wasn't as if she was overjoyed to be trapped there.

Kevan Lannister soon rode up to them, clearly having come to check on his wife and his sister and his daughters and to see that she hadn't tried to run off, when he saw that they were all well and where they were supposed to be he turned and rode to the head off column, to report to is brother. A blanket was brought out of the wheelhouse and laid on the grass so the ladies could continue their needlework and have something off a picnic.

Close to an hour later the servants repairing the wheel told them that the wheelhouse was ready to move on and a rider was sent to the head to tell the old lion, as soon as all the ladies were back inside the wheelhouse began it's slow journey once again.

"I wish I could be a warrior queen, I'd like to fight a lot more then I like to do needlework." A young girl around ten with the signature curly blond hair and green eyes of a Lannister who Elia had not heard speak a single word spoke as she placed her needlework to the side, Dorna tried to hush her but the girl clearly did not want to be quiet. "It's true! Needlework is boring and I'm not any good at it, I'm good at fighting too. When Daven told me I was too little to play with and couldn't play boys games I tackled his knees and made him eat dirt."

"Cerenna! Be silent now, you are a lady and you shall act like one. Consider the example you will be setting for your sister, your own daughters." Dorna's voice was filled with a mixture of anger and embarrassment and Elia knew that it wasn't very courteous but she couldn't a stop smirk from spreading on her face, she kept her head down to hide it and kept her eyes on her needlework.

"Why? Myrielle is just a dumb baby and by the time I'm a woman grown she'll only be six. And I'm not going to have any babies, I don't want any. Who would? They are dumb smelly things that only cry and poop and never do anything fun." The young girl spoke completely ignorant to her mother's mounting horror and embarrassment.

"Cerenna! Be silent now or I will have you sewing clothes for all the poor of Lannisport until the eternal summer!" Her mother's shout caused the girl to pout but she did not make any attempt to return to her needlework. "Forgive me Genna, Mother forgive me but I have no idea what I am to do with her."

"It's quite alright Dorna, in truth I found it most entertaining." Genna said as her lips twitched and the wheelhouse was filled with quiet giggling, the other woman blushed in embarrassment and Elia had to admit that she did feel a bit sorry for the poor woman. She didn't think that Genna was doing it maliciously but it must've been hard for Dorna to try and get her respect and just be mocked and laughed at when your child did something amusing.

"What are you making Dorna?" Elia asked more out of pity than actual curiosity, the look of surprise on the slightly portly woman's face was probably matched by that of all the other woman in the wheelhouse, she hadn't spoken to them unless they spoke to her and most times it was only with one word answers.

"It's an image of all of the Seven." She turned her napkin around to show if off, it was indeed all of the seven. Well, most of them. Only the Warrior, the Mother, The Smith, The Maid, The Father and The Crone had been stitched and there was no room left for the Stranger which didn't surprise her. No one revered the Stranger but they still referred to them as the Seven gods even in simple casual conversation.

"It's lovely." Elia admitted and this time it wasn't out of pity, she could admire the skill that went into the work, behind all of the six figures was a small little background or a nice detail, like the Smith being in the forge or the Mother having a babe in her arms that was sucking at her breast.

Dorna blushed and it made her fairly plain face look rather pretty, she said nothing though for the rest of the trip there was a smile on her face and she hummed as she placed the finishing touches on her needlework.

The wheelhouse stopped and the door was opened and the same guard as before popped his head. "We are not quite there my ladies but there is a rather pleasant view if you'd like to come out and look." He offered before holding out his and helping anyone who wanted to get out.

The sight outside was utterly breath taking, Elia had to admit that much, they were at least another mile away from Lannisport but it was in sight and the morning sun hung over it, Casterly Rock a looming titan in the distance that was shrouded in shadow. The light of the sun hit the waters of the Sunset Sea and turned it's waters into pure shimmering gold.

It was perhaps appropriate that the Lannisters, who Oberyn liked to joke even shat gold, would make their stronghold next to a see that looked like gold. Lannisport itself was impressive as well, they hadn't stopped there when they had come from Dorne all those years ago, they had simply headed straight to the rock.

It's wall stretched up high to protect the city from any attacks from the land and the large Lannister navy protected it from the sea, it was made up of at least twenty war galleys, one of which was large than all the others which Elia had to assume was the flagship of the fleet though from this distance she could make out no details.

It was clear that Lord Tywin soon had grown weary by the lack of movement and the column resumed it's slow march to the Rock, all too soon in Elia's opinion it had stopped again and Elia stepped out of the wheelhouse after all the other ladies had left it so she could get a good look at her prison.

It was...larger than she remembered, she had honestly expected it to be somewhat smaller since she had been much smaller the last time she was here. But no, the Rock still stretched upwards into the sky as it had always done, if you put the Red Keep on top of the Great Sept of Balor you would still not be able to reach to top of Casterly Rock.

The column had passed through a large cavern which Dorna informed her was called the Lion's mouth, they had came to a stop in a large courtyard and stable boys had rushed to help their lord, his brother and his son down from their horses before taking them away.

"Everyone will return to their rooms and attend to whatever duties they have, a feast will be held in the great hall at sundown! My family and I will not be attending due to matters that must be discussed, we shall be eating alone." The old lion shared the same quality as his younger sister that there was something in it that made you pay attention, unlike his sister however he had no problem with being loud as his voice echoed through out the courtyard and even made it's way back to the mouth.

"Genna! Kevan! You will both come with me as will you, Jaime. Guards, please escort Princess Elia to her chambers as gently as possible, Vylarr I shall leave it you to ensure that." A man with cropped blond hair with a scar that split his lips and dressed in crimson but with a red cloak that was trimmed with gold instead of just a plain red one nodded as his liege lord began to walk towards the massive doors that had been carved into the mountain thousands of years ago.

Vylarr came over too her as the ladies she travelled with began to break away from her, Genna following her brothers and her nephew and Dorna took her daughter's hand and began to walk into the rock. Two guards came up behind Elia and she realised with a half smirk that she was basically surrounded.

"Please follow me princess." Vylarr spoke, his voice emotionless. Elia didn't mean anything to him, he was just following his liege lord's orders and if those orders were to take her to room or to beat her to death then he would do it without a single moment's hesitation, she hated him more than she did any of them.

She didn't object, it wasn't as if she had much of a choice anyway, and the guards began to lead her into the Rock. She wasn't sure how the Lannisters managed to live here every single day because it was like climbing a mountain, it was climbing a mountain the only difference being that there were steps and they were inside it instead of out.

The guards and their captain at least allowed her the decency of allowing her to stop every now and then to allow her to catch her breath, they had to be at least a half mile away from where they had started off. Perhaps this was why there were no fat Lannisters aside from Genna? And she spent most of her time at the Twins with her husband from what she had heard.

They finally arrived at her chambers after another ten minutes of climbing stairs and walking down corridors, they had seen her inside and then the door had been firmly shut behind her. It wasn't barred but she had only heard one set of footsteps walking away which she had to assume was Vylarr which meant that the other two guards were still outside the door.

The was far more pleasant than she had been expecting, she could at least say that much. It was large enough to fit at least thirty people at a time and the bed could hold at least eight, a custom that had always somewhat surprised her to be certain. Dorne was cold at night to certain but never so cold that you needed close to ten people in a bed to warm yourself though she had shared her bed with Ashara once or twice.

In the north she could understand it better though she only shared her bed with Ashara there and then with Ned when she had moved into his room, she certainly didn't plan on having any Lannister bed maids attend to her.

The view was quite lovely as well, she hat to admit that. Her room was built into the far side of the rock and above and from her windows she could look straight down to where the waves were crashing against the stone wall that was the rock, jagged stones poked up from out of the sea and dozens more were hidden beneath the water. More stones of all sizes were dotted on the few lumps of pathetic grey sand that bordered the stone that might be considered a beach which was swallowed whenever the tide came in.

It was beautiful and filled with hidden danger underneath the obvious danger, that summed up the Lannisters well enough.

With a heavy sigh Elia turned from the window and crept over to the foot of the bed, she began to unlace her dress and let it fall from her body and stepped out of it once it puddled around her feet. She crawled into the middle of the bed and pulled the covers over her head, perhaps if she just stayed in the middle of the bed and slept they would forget about her.

Unfortunately for her she couldn't sleep, the bed was too big and she had grown used to someone sleeping beside her. Plus the babe was anxious and would not stop kicking even as she rubbed her stomach and hummed under her breath, perhaps it was picking up on her fear but at the moment no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop it.

With a groan of frustration she threw the covers off of her and crawled out of the bed, she picked up her dress and put it back on though it took her awhile to tie to strings on her own. She had to assume that Lord Tywin would assume her a maid to help with that and if for nothing else other than practical reasons she was looking forward to that at least.

There was a knock at her door and a maid came in when Elia opened the door to her, behind her were two servant boys carrying a trunk which Elia recognised as the trunk she had packed all her clothes in. Then, to her surprise another pair of boys carried in another trunk and then another pair of boys carried in another, all three trunks were placed at the foot of her bed and then with a sharp word from the maid all the servant boys ran out of the room.

The maid introduced herself as Clara, she was a pretty woman in the height of her beauty though she didn't seem to be highborn. Black curls framed a pale face from which green eyes stared out of, a button nose was set firmly in the centre of her face and underneath that was a pair of pale red lips, Elia could imagine that men wanted to wed and bed her, or just the last one if Elia knew anything of most men. For most the first step tended to just be a way to get to the second.

Lord Tywin had assigned her to tend to all of her needs while she was a guest of House Lannister, when the woman had used the word guest Elia couldn't stop a smirk from forming on her face, and if she needed anything then all she had to do was ask.

What Elia needed was to get as far away from here as soon as possible, preferably on a boat back to the North, or failing that, Dorne. But that was clearly a thing that Clara could not, and would not, get her.

So, she had simply asked the woman to brush her hair, fill her a bath and help her change into a new dress. The hair brushing was not the most pleasant of experiences, Lannister hair might naturally curl but it wasn't as think as the hair of those from Dorne and more than twice the brush had got caught in her hair and a firm pull had been needed to dislodge it, which unfortunately also pulled at her scalp.

The bath was thankfully for more pleasant, after Clara had left to fetch the water she had been concerned that it would be too cold for a pleasant bath but when she came back with the tall flagon filled with water Elia could see that there were still wisps of steam coming out of the top of it, while Clara used it to fill the tub Elia disrobed and slipped into the warm water, sighing in contentment and her bones relaxed under the encompassing heat.

She sent Clara away as she didn't knew her well enough to bathe in front of her and when the door close she allowed herself to relax a little more, for just a few moments all the stress that she had suffered from simply melted away, even the babe stopped kicking for a moment or two and while she normally treasured every single movement from her babe at least for now she was treasuring the lull.

She stayed in the bath until the water began to cool off at which point she stood up and stepped out of the bath and covered herself with a thick towel made out of wool. She called Clara back in and asked her to lay out a dress for her and help her to dress in it.

The dress she picked out came out from one of the trunks that she didn't pick and it was clearly a Lannister dress, crimson in colour with gold thread around the sleeves and the opening at the neck. There were emeralds and rubies studded around the middle of the dress in a way that made it resemble a corset, of course the Lannisters would show off their wealth in such a way.

In all truth she didn't like it but she got the feeling she wouldn't get to choose her dress today, at least it managed to fit though perhaps it was a little tight around the middle, she had mentioned it to Clara and she promised that tomorrow she would take is to Casterly Rock's seamstress and have it taken out.

Once she was dressed Clara sat her back down in front of the mirror and began to fix her hair, her curls were bunched up into a plate and wrapped around her head and held in a golden hairnet with tiny green jewels doting it, two long strands of hair were left loose and were draped over her shoulders.

"You look beautiful my Lady." Clara said as she smiled brightly as she examined her handiwork, Elia supposed that she did look quite good but being in Lannister colours instead of Dornish colours or her husband's unsettled her. Still, none of this was Clara's fault so she thanked her for her hard work and told her how much she loved it.

There was a sharp knock at the door and Clara went to check the door, opening it and peaking her head out. She turned to face Elia while keeping the door slightly shut. "My Lady, it is Lord Tyrion and he's wondering if you and he might have a word?"

Elia considered saying no and sending the little man on his way but she held her tongue, this was his home and she was basically a prisoner, it wasn't as if what she wanted would play much of an factor in anything. She nodded once and Clara opened the door for the Imp.

Tyrion waddled in with a small smirk on his face, he was dressed in a crimson doublet and black pants, a golden lion rip with small chunks of red rubies acting at it's eyes pinned to the front of his doublet. It was a shame that so many judged him simply for the fact he was a dwarf, there were traces of a handsome man in his face and if he had been born whole than Elia imagined that he might even be more beautiful than either of his older siblings.

"Princess Elia, I had heard you had been condemned to this corner of the Rock. You should count yourself lucky, this is where my father condemns all of us who are embarrassments to the glorious name of House Lannister, my tower is just at the end of the hall." The little man said with a chuckle, he turned to Clara and snapped his fingers. "Girl, go and fetch some wine for us. Dornish Red I assume?"

Elia nodded and Clara bowed her head before spinning on her feet and leaving the room, Tyrion smirked and sat himself at the large table that dominated the centre of the room. "One good thing about being highborn, I may be the scourge of House Lannister but a member of House Lannister I will always be and so, I never need to fetch my own wine. Dwarf or no. Considering if I was lowborn I might have been left in the woods to die or thrown into the sea, I suppose it's a fair enough trade"

Elia was sure that Tyrion was trying to make a jest but she could not find it in herself to laugh, why was he here? What did he want? Had his father sent him to spy on her? Surely that was what Clara was for? Elia sat down at the table, directly across from the lord and looked into his mismatched eyes, trying as hard as she could to find any truth in them.

"You know, many people have told me that they find my eyes unsettling to look upon. It seems that courtesy is forgotten when dealing with a man of my height. It surprises me to see that I have that effect on even a princess, did your Mother nor you septa never tell you that it is considered rude to stare?" Tyrion asked as he gently tapped his fingers against the polished wood of the table, there was no heat in his voice but Elia still had the shame to blush.

"Forgive me, Lord Tyrion. I did not mean to offend you. I am still very tired from our journey and I would simply like to sleep though I am not ungrateful for your company." That was true enough, of all the Lannisters at the moment Tyrion was the one that she didn't want to see the least.

"But you are not grateful for it either." Tyrion chuckled and shook his head. "I'm afraid your rather going to have to learn to lie better, or start lying as a matter of fact. I'm one of the worst liars in this family but I am far better than you."

Elia had never been the best at lying, no, that wasn't true. She didn't enjoy lying and she hadn't had much practice at it. "Why are you here Lord Tyrion? What do you want from me?"

"I want to offer you something. I know what it is like to be trapped here, to be trapped with people you know that you can not trust no matter what. My family can be cruel people, I know this better than most. My father is perhaps the cruellest man to ever draw breath, my sweet sister is a monster in the shape of the maid and neither of them have ever been kind to me, they blame me for killing my mother, as hard as that might be to believe-"

"It isn't hard to believe." Elia interrupted and then sighed when Tyrion narrowed his eyes at her. "We've met before, years ago when you were just a babe. My mother, brother and I left Dorne to find a match for me. Your mother and mine were friends when they served the queen. They planned to marry their children to one another, the plan was to marry me to Jaime. I imagine that if your mother had lived then I would be your good sister by now."

"But your mother had died by then, when word had reached us I remember that my Mother locked herself away for a week and cried and cried, when she finally came out she was just so...cold. She wouldn't speak of it and we knew better than to try. The whole realm knew what had happened, Joanna Lannister, Lady of Lannister and Casterly Rock had died birthing a monster, with scaled skin like a lizard and leathery wings and a tail with eyes as black as pitch."

"When Oberyn and I came here all those years ago, all we wanted to do was see the monster of the rock. We were children, we didn't think. We were smart enough to realise that we couldn't ask your father of course but we weren't spending time with him, we spent every day here with your brother and your sister."

"I think it was the third day that Oberyn asked if we could finally see you, your sister just smiled at us. I remember that, and all she said was 'later." That was all, just 'later'. For every day onward we had to wait, when we sewed together I would leaner over to her and ask if today was the day that we could finally see the monster, but no the time wasn't right."

"Finally, on the day before we were due to leave it seemed as though the time was right. Your sister and your brother took me and Oberyn deep into the bowels of Casterly Rock, I thought that if we kept walking down then we would walk to the other side of the world. That was how far down we went."

"Then, out of the darkness I heard you crying. We followed it until finally we found the room you had been stuffed in, it was so cold and dark and damp and small that I wondered how anyone could be so cruel as to stuff a babe in there, monster or no. You had been assigned a wet nurse so at least you wouldn't starve, she had looked like most wet nurses do, she had looked like she had a babe of her own so perhaps you have a milk sibling out there, she tried to send us away and that would've been the end of it."

"But your sister refused to go, she said that you belonged to her and that if the woman didn't get out of the way and leave then she would have her whipped. The wetnurse didn't stay and your sister walked over to the crib, we all followed her. She slowly reached down, took hold of the blanket that covered you and then pulled it off of you and that was the first time that I ever saw you."

"To be truthful? I thought you were the most adorable little thing that I had ever seen in my entire life, oh, to be sure your head was a little too big for your body and your limbs were a little bit too short but that didn't change that I thought that you were just darling. Oberyn teased me about it for days after we left, he said that if it were up to me I probably would've taken you back to Sunspear with us. I can't say that he was wrong."

"Speaking of Oberyn, you have no idea how disappointed he was when he saw you. He wanted to see a monster, not a baby. Your sister she...she didn't like how we reacted, she called you a monster and said how much she hated you and told us how you had killed her mother and then she...she started to hurt you, I begged her to stop and was about to pull her away from you but before I could your brother intervened and pulled her away, he told her not to touch you again."

"I am very aware, of just how cruel your sister and your father can be." Elia said finally, she wasn't sure what had convinced her to tell the whole story but she had found that once she had started that she couldn't stop, she knew exactly what sort of people she was trapped with and at the moment all she was glad of was the fact that Cersei Lannister was at least a few hundred miles away from her.

Tyrion's mismatched eyes were wet, although perhaps it was only the light of the candles, and the only sound in the room was the sound of his own heavy breathing. Elia suddenly felt terrible, she hadn't meant to upset the man but once she had started speaking she just couldn't stop. Perhaps even now she hadn't learned that there was a time to speak and time to keep quiet and just listen.

She was about to apologise but before she could the door swung open and Clara stepped back into the room, a flagon of wine in one hand and two golden goblets dangling in her other. Clara placed both of the cups and the flagon on the table and was about to pour some of the wine when Tyrion held up his hand to stop her and with a wave of his hand dismissed her.

Once Clara was gone Tyrion picked up the flagon and poured some wine into both of the cups before setting the flagon back down, he picked up his cup and swallowed it down in two gulps before Elia could even touch her cup, the man put his cup back down on the table and let out a heavy sigh. "Forgive me, I should have waited for you to drink, we should toast, one moment."

Tyrion filled his cup up once again and held it out in the air, waiting for Elia to bring their cups together. "To my sweet sister."

"To your sister." Elia repeated as she brought her cup up, the rim of hers meeting Tyrion's and filling the room with the noise of a soft clang. Elia took a sip of her wine as Tyrion drunk deep from his cup. "I'm sorry, truly. I didn't mean to upset you."

"My life upsets me, not you." Tyrion muttered as he finished off his cup, he stared deep into the empty cup for a few moments before he tossed it off the side. The cup landed hard against the ground and rolled away, going under the bed as it did so. "All I wanted to tell you, was that you had an ally here. A friend, if you want one. I've had few friends here, my entire life but I've learned to treasure the few that I have managed to acquire over the years. I would like us to be friends."

"I would like that as well." Elia admitted, she still wasn't entirely sure if she could trust even Tyrion but it would be nice to think that she could, at least for a little bit. To think that there was someone in her corner, someone to help her survive until she thought of a way that she could get back home to Ned. It would be nice.

"Well, there we are then. I think our new friendship is worthy of another toast, wait. I probably shouldn't have thrown my cup away." Tyrion said with a laugh and Elia was pleased to see that wetness in his eyes had dried up and at least for the moment, there was merriment instead of pain from old wounds that had been reopened.

"Here, you may have mine." Elia offered as she slid her cup over to the little man, in truth she hadn't wanted any wine in the first place but she knew it was considered rude for someone to drink alone and Lord Tyrion had already sent Clara to go and get the wine regardless. Tyrion picked up the cup and spoke out his thanks before he finished off the wine.

As soon as the wine was gone he thanked her and hopped out of his chair. "I thank you for the company and for the drink but it strikes me that I should be getting back to my gilded cage, my father will no doubt summon me for dinner soon enough so he can point out how much of a disgrace I am to our house, as if he assumes that I've forgotten."

Tyrion reached out and picked up the half empty flagon and took a swing of it directly from the top. "I hope you will pardon me but his judgement is easier to face if I am at least half out of my head." With a tiny bow Tyrion turned on his feet and made his way out of the room, whistling as he went.

Just as Tyrion had left the room and Elia thought that for a moment she might be able to have at least a few moments on her own the door swung open again and Clara stepped back inside. "Is there anything more that I can do for you my lady?" She asked as she picked up the lone cup from where it stood on the table, not asking where the other one and the flagon had gone.

"No, I would just like to be left alone for the moment. I would like to sleep." Elia admitted all though she had know that long before she said it that it was going to be a vain hope.

"I am sorry my Lady, Lord Tywin said that I wasn't to leave you alone for too long. If you would like to go to sleep then I would be more than happy to sleep with you." Even with knowing it was a vain hope Elia couldn't help but admit that she was more than a little disappointed in knowing that she would never be left on her own for as long as she stayed here, how she was ever meant to get away? Would she just have to leave it up to chance that she would ever be able to go home.

She needed to sleep, that was the truth of it. She had been upset on those first few days on the road and her sadness had unsettled the babe and it would not stop moving inside of her, not that it had ever been still in the first place. Once her sadness had faded slightly, though it had never fully disappeared considering that it still plagued her even now, suspicion took over her and she had not been able to settle so she could get any sleep.

At the moment the bed sang to her like a siren on a rock, luring sailors to their doom. If the bed was somehow going to lead her to her doom then it was one that she went too more than willingly. Elia nodded at Clara's words and Clara asked her to turn around, the younger woman pulled out a pair of night dresses and laid them on the bed but before Clara could undo the strings on the back of Elia's dress there was a knock at the door.

Elia had to remember that she was a princess and that princesses didn't scream when they were irritated but it was hard to remember that when she was this irritated, thankfully she had managed to keep a slim hold on her temper as Clara went to the door and opened it, this time Clara did not announce who it was on the other side she simply held the door open and Jaime Lannister strode in.

He was beautiful, that was clear to her, it was clear to anyone that looked at him. His golden hair could probably do with a cut by now but it the way it feel to his shoulders honestly did remind her of a lion's mane, so perhaps it was an appropriate length for him. His green eyes shone like chunks of jade when the lights of the candles hit them, the flecks of gold in his eyes shone even brighter than the candles. Underneath his crimson doublet she could see the firm chest and strong arms that came with countless hours of working with a sword.

Elia's own arms still retained a little of that firmness as well, though it had faded a little by now as the last time she had held a sword outside of her childhood was when she and Lyanna had their little duel back at Winterfell with what had seemed like half the castle was watching them. That seemed like an entire different life, almost as if it had happened to someone else.

"My lady, my father would like if you would join us for dinner. He's aware that you must be tired but none of us have had anything to eat since breakfast on the road." In all honesty food sounded very good at the moment, having food with Tywin Lannister and his family did not sound pleasant at all.

"Your father is so very kind and thoughtful Ser Jaime, I am afraid that I am very tired however. Perhaps it would be alright if I slept and then eat when I wake up? Or perhaps he could simply send me up a tray?" She knew that she wouldn't be that lucky but she at the very least had to try, unfortunately her suspicion turned out to be accurate.

"I'm sorry my lady, but my father insisted that you dine with us tonight. Let me give you some advice, it isn't advisable to not give my father what he wants." How he spoke to her irritated her, she wasn't a fool as to not who Tywin Lannister was or what he was capable off. Still, there was no point in picking a fight so with a soft sigh she stood up and took Jaime's arm.

The young lion lead her out of the room, Clara stayed behind as they left and the guards outside her room thankfully didn't make any attempt to follow them, and the two of them began to walk down the long, dark corridors of Casterly Rock. Elia couldn't help but feel angry at him, it was all his fault after all. If he hadn't crowned her the queen of love and beauty then the King would've paid her no mind and she would already be back at Winterfell and she wouldn't have to worry about whether or not her husband would even be able to see their child as it was born.

That thought caused her temper to flare and she stopped walking, she pulled her arm free from Jaime and stared into his beautiful, infurtating eyes as he turned to face her with a frown and she realised that at the moment nothing would please her more than to claw them out. "Why?"

"Why what?" Jaime asked, he did sound honestly confused and that only added to Elia's. Did he honestly not remember? Did he not understand the wound he had inflicted not on to her, but to Ned? To Oberyn and Doran and her babe? To House Martell and House Stark and even to House Lannister? Was he truly this much of a fool?

"Why did you crown me the queen of love and beauty, I wasn't the only woman in those stands. I was hardly the most beautiful of them either, I have no illusions about how plain I am. I was married on top of everything else, my husband was sitting at my side if you can recall anything of the worst day of my life. If it was about marrying me then surely you know that boat had sailed long before I had married, is that the reason Ser Jaime? Do you want to marry me, was that your great plan? Well, I'm very glad to say that your great plan has failed you. The king can not dissolve our married and he knows that I can assure you, he's just trapped us together in a void."

The bitterness and in her own voice surprised Elia, for a moment she had thought that someone else had been speaking to the man in front of her, like she had been a puppet at the end of strings and it had been her master that had been making her speak but she knew that wasn't true, it was her voice and her words and her anger that had filled the damp air of the corridor.

Jaime Lannister almost seemed like a statue carved from marble for a moment, beautiful and cold and perfect in an empty way. But, all too soon the cracks began to appear. His lips twitched upwards for a few moments and began to chuckle, shaking his head as he did so. "I must find a way to thank you properly, my lady. It has been far too long since I've been able to have a good and long laugh. You speak to unfairly of yourself, you know? You are quite fair to look on but you are not who I would want to marry."

"Then why did you crown me, answer me that!" Elia shouted, her voice echoing around them. She didn't care about how unladylike it was, she wanted to yell and scream and even hit something. She wasn't foolish enough to actually try and hit him of course, she was a hostage and if she hit the son of her jailor then all that would achieve was the hand she used to him with being removed and she was quite fond of both of her hands.

Jaime simply stared at her for a few moments, he didn't say anything and Elia started to wonder if even he knew why he crowned her. Had it simply been a moment of random idiocy? Could that be the truth of it? A random action that had been done with no forethought that had caused all of this misery? But then, Jaime Lannister let out a sigh and shook his head. "The things that we do for the people we love, do you ever wonder if it's too much? If it makes us monsters?"

Elia in all honesty did not know how to react to that, what we she do for Ned? for Oberyn and Doran? For Arianne and Quentyn and Obara and Nymeria and Tyene, for the babe that was growing inside of her? She'd always that she would do anything for them but she'd never actually stopped to consider what anything would include, what she might have to do to keep all of them safe.

"We should do things that we keep the people we care about safe, but if that means making us do cruel things, then I do not know what to say to you Ser Jaime. I've never been forced to do a cruel thing to keep someone I care about safe. I suppose that I am quite fortunate in that, why? Did crowning me kept someone you love safe?" Elia asked softly, all her anger had fled from her and now all that was in her was pity.

"I did it for someone I loved, no, I did it for you in truth. They wanted you out of the way and I tried to save you, and I have done that. I will not apologise and I will say no more." In truth he did not need to say anymore, there was only one person that Elia could imagine would want her out of the way and that person was now the future queen of the seven kingdoms. Would Cersei Lannister have truly been so stupid to try and have her killed and anger the North and Dorne, neither Oberyn not Doran nor Ned nor Lord Rickard would forgive that?

Her brother certainly seemed to think that she would, she couldn't thank him. Perhaps it was spiteful but she simply couldn't thank him, it was still his fault that she was here and not with the person she loved more than any other but he had done it for the right reason, he had probably saved her life. So, with a deep breath Elia took his arm again and looked into his eyes. "We should hurry on, we wouldn't want to keep your father waiting."

Jaime nodded and they resumed their journey through the Rock, it was still as exhausting as it had been before but soon enough they had made their way to a pair of carved wooden doors which two servants pulled open and warm light flooded out into the corridor. Inside Lord Tywin was sitting at the head of the table, he glanced up at them when he heard the doors open but when he saw it was them he simply glanced back down at the piece of parchment in his hands.

The seat at his right was empty, most likely it was meant to be filled by Jamie, but the one on his left was filled by his younger brother. Kevan glanced at them both and gave Elia a respectful nod before he turned back to his brother and spoke of something that she couldn't quite hear. Genna sat in the chair next down to her brother and was speaking as well and there was a heavy frown on her plump face and anger in her eyes.

There were two men that Elia did not recognise, they were sitting down from Genna and across from one another. The older man had the blond hair of all Lannisters but it was darker than any of his other family members, it was closer to a sandy brown than the spun gold of the other members of his family. His face was also quite stern, unlike Lord Tywin who clearly had a handsome face in his youth and still had some traces of it in his face now the man was clearly born frowning.

His green eyes were dull, the rest of his family had beautiful chunks of jade for eyes while he a pair of green marbles. He turned his head to look at them, he frowned at Jaime, then at Elia before he turned his frown back to the man who was sitting across from him.

Said man seemed to be the youngest person currently sitting at the table, his golden hair was bright and his green eyes shone bright with laughter. He was clearly a lot older than Elia despite being the youngest at the table but she had to admit that she did find him quite handsome, in fact if she had not know how the entire family was related then she would've assumed that the younger man was Jaime's father instead of Lord Tywin.

She did briefly wondered where Dorna was as she would assume that she was considered close enough family to eat with the rest of them but Elia did not question it, if Lord Tywin hadn't wanted her here then that was his business.

"Uncle Tygett, Uncle Gerion. Good to see you both again, this is Princess Elia Martell." Elia had heard that Lord Tywin had other brothers other than Kevan but they weren't what they had been expecting, Tygett was dressed in rough brown boiled leather rather than the crimson of his siblings and Gerion looked as though he was far too happy to be a Lannister.

"A pleasure, my dear." Gerion said with a smirk and he gently took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, Elia smiled and gently pulled her hand back. Tygett said nothing, simply glanced at her and shrugged before picking up his goblet and took a sip of the wine inside.

The doors were opened behind them once again as Gerion retook his seat, Tyrion waddled in and Elia suspected it was more to do with the wine she had given him than it was his height. "Sorry I took so long, I just wanted to be anywhere that was not here." He said with a smirk as he sat down next to his youngest uncle.

Tywin Lannister glared at his youngest son and if looks could kill then Elia was certain that Tyrion would be dead where he sat, she was also certain that if that was true then Lord Tywin would have killed more men than any other man in history. To give credit to Tyrion, if he was scared of his father's gaze then he did well in not showing it as he settled to make himself comfortable.

Jaime and Elia then took their seats, they were sat together which Elia did not know how too feel about that but she knew better than to complain. Jaime was sat at his father's right which meant that he was across from Lord Kevan and Elia was sitting next to Jaime and across from Lady Genna. Elia wondered if they would be forced to converse but before she had too long to worry about that Lord Tywin rung a bell and food was brought in on silver platters.

It was fairly modest fair but Elia was starving and she would not complain, the main part of the meal was a large ham that had been glazed with honey and studded with raisins and served on a bed of dark red beets and carrots. Alongside it was a hot soup made of leeks and chestnuts with two loaves of crusty bread for dipping, at the end of the meal were lavender cakes alongside baked apples and sharp cheese.

"Princess Elia." Lord Tywin's voice cut through the noise of clattering forks and knives, Elia put down her half finished lavender cake and wiped the crumbs away from her mouth with the small handkerchief. "I shall be honest with you, I do not want you here. I say that because it is true and that I am certain that you do not wish to be here either."

"But you are here regardless, by the actions of my son and I do apologise for that but you will be treated as well as a guest of the rock deservers to be treated, so long as you remember to act as befitting a guest of the Rock." The man's voice was cold and held a hint of steel to it as his green eyes bored into her, it almost seemed like he was trying to rip into her body with her gaze and lay her soul bare.

"My my Ty, you might as well tell her that she had better behave or you'll have her dragged in front of Clegane and his men." Gerion's voice was mocking and his elder brother glared at him. Elia normally liked a bit of humour to lighten the tense mood but mocking Tywin Lannister simply seemed like a shortcut to the grave and when it came to including Gregor Clegane...

The man had been a common feature in her nightmares, they were stories and dark whispers about him all across the seven kingdoms of course and she knew that Oberyn knew more of him but even when she had asked he would not tell her. But now Oberyn was far away from her and it had not taken her long to find out more from the conversations she had overheard on the road.

Two parents dead, a sister dead before her time, dozens of servants going missing and a brother maimed. The man was a monster and Elia could've ignored it if the man was kept as far away from her as possible but back on their second day on the road Clegane and one of his men had been assigned to guard her and her chaperone.

It had been one of the most uncomfortable experiences of her life, the lewd remarks he made about her, her body and her being from Dorne. She had wanted to get as far away from him as possible and it had taken more courage than she ever thought she had to ask him to take them back to the wheelhouse. When she had climbed back in and the Mountain had slammed the door shut so hard that the wood had splinted Elia couldn't stop the tears from flowing silently down her cheeks.

At the time she had just been glad that none of the ladies had said anything about it, but by then she supposed that they were used to her crying by then.

The rest of the dinner was quiet and awkward, Elia had lost her appetite but she at least tried to finish the lavender cake and the conversation was mainly held by the oldest three lions, Tyrion and Gerion made snarky comments to one another, Tygett kept his attention on his food and Jaime held an intimate conversation with his wine glass which his father held a disapproving look on.

Soon enough the dinner was over and they were all dismissed, Tywin and his siblings looked like they would both be staying a bit longer but Tyrion had already left and Jaime was entrusted with escorting her back to her room. There was no conversation on the way back, perhaps they were both simply too tired for any more. It had been a long day and Elia was fairly sure that it wasn't even dark yet.

Clara was waiting for her in her room and she helped her out of her dress and changed her into her night dress, the two of them climbed into the bed and Elia shut her eyes as the woman's slim arms came around her chest. She had hoped that maybe she would've been able to pretend that she was Ned but her arms were far too slim for that.

Perhaps, her dreams would offer her sweeter rewards.

End of Chapter Thirty

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 **Welp, I guess you guys can call this an early Christmas present, or whatever you celebrate present. I really enjoyed writing this chapter especially the Jamie/Elia and Tyrion/Elia interactions. Gerion and Tygett were also people I were looking forward to getting too, I know they seemed quite minor but this was just to introduce them.**

 **Another thing that should be pointed out is that while Cerenna and Myrielle are both characters that do exist in the books and they are Lannisters they are only ever mentioned in the appendix and they are not the children of Kevan and Dorna and are in fact the children of Joanna's brother Steffon in the books. Taking a page I decided to compress the characters and make them and their older brother Daven into Kevan's children instead and their is a reason for this.**

 **Also, don't worry Lancel and their canon children will play a big part in this story as well, they just aren't born yet at this point in the timeline. (On a side note can I just say I hate the ASOIAF timeline? It is so complicated to try and follow.)**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always please follow, favourite and review.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	31. Chapter 31

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-One.

Rhaegar Targaryen watched as far below the waves crashed against the grim shore of Dragonstone, he had to admit that he had never liked this place. He may have been it's prince but even for him, a man who was well known for being melancholic, it was far too gloomy. His new wife had not helped in making the ancient citadel seem more welcoming.

It was most likely to do with the fact that they were far away from court, Cersei had wanted to be a lady of the court with dozens of admirers and courtiers fawning over her and begging for her favour and attention. She hadn't expected that she would soon be sent away from the court and have to come to Dragonstone instead but that had to happen eventually, it was better it happened now than later.

In truth despite how gloomy it was and displease his wife was Rhaegar was glad to be away from the Red Keep for a time, tensions in King's Landing were rising and it was perhaps for the best to get away for a while. Cersei may not like it here but at the very least she was out immediate danger and he could live with her slight disapproval.

What he could not live with was the fact that he had to leave his mother and his younger brother in his father's poisonous grasp, Viserys had been crying and crying on the docks when their ship was about to leave and had begged him not to go, or to take Viserys with him and Rhaegar wanted nothing more than to take him with them but their father had forbid his younger son from leaving the capital.

His mother had tried to be strong for both her sons and just as always his mother's strength always surprised him, he knew that his father had visited her the night before as the purple bruise that surrounded one of her eyes attested but she had not let that stopped her from coming to wish her eldest son and his new wife well on their journey. Rhaegar didn't think that he ever hated himself more than when the ship sailed away from the port and it grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

He tried to comfort himself by saying that it wouldn't be like this forever, that being far away from his father's gaze meant that he could more easily plan to dispose his father but the truth was that no words could make him feel better about any of this, and the words weren't even true. His father would be keeping an even closer eye on him now that he wasn't within arm's reach.

He missed Jon, but his friend was his father's hand and there was no logical reason why his father would let his hand go to serve his son. Without Jon at his side things had become more difficult, he had no insight into his father's mind and he had no way of sending messages to the other lords of the realm. There were ravens at Dragonstone of course but any messages being sent would be watched by his father and would be intercepted, all his letters were written in code of course but his father didn't need to understand what he had written, all he needed to know was that his son was sending coded messages to the other great lords.

There were only so many conclusions that could be reached from that.

The king was paranoid to be certain, too paranoid but he did trust his hand at least for the moment. The hand was sworn to serve the king after all and any messages he sent were only going to help the king in the long run after all, and Jon was a man of his word and he did serve his king, his true king. It wasn't perfect by any means of course, the Spider and his little birds were everywhere in the Red Keep and he gladly whispered into his king's ear.

When Rhaegar had first started to plan all of this he had hoped that Varys might have been reasonable, might have come over to his side but he knew that having the Master of Whispers in his corner would be too much too hope for. And so on Varys went loyally serving, telling the Mad King of all those who plotted against him.

And of course Varys wasn't the only threat, plenty of lords had spies in the Red Keep after all any one of them could betray their prince for a favour from their king. All though, the King hated traitors so the only favour they were likely to receive was their head being removed from their shoulders instead of being burned alive.

There was a pounding in his head and Rhaegar realised that he felt so very weary all of a sudden, how was it fair that it had all fallen to him? Why had the gods, or fate or destiny chosen him to do this? To complete the prophecy? Even now he could still remember when he read the passage in the dusty old book in the library, the book's name was forgotten to him now but he could still remember the passage as clearly as though had just read it.

Three heads. Born amidst salt and smoke and beneath a bleeding star. To deliver all them from evil and end the longest night, for such a long time he thought that it had been himself that was to be the prince that was promised, his own vanity he supposed that had made him believe that. But it had shaped who he was, had made him put away his books and his scrolls and made him pick up the sword and mace and lance under the tutelage of good old Ser Willem Darry.

But the prophecy had shaped his grandfather and father as well, his grandfather had married his daughter to his son because he believed that would bare the three heads of the dragon and his father had taken his mother when ever he wanted because he believed that it was his duty to bring forth the prince, it had turned his father into a monster.

If Rhaegar tried hard enough he could almost remember the man that his father had been, plenty of people had used to tell him that in his youth he had been a great deal like Rhaegar was now but he couldn't be sure of that. That man was long gone, if he had ever existed but in Rhaegar's youth he could remember his father as a man who had smiled at him, who had sat him on his knee as he sat on the iron throne, he even had the vaguest memories of his father singing to him but perhaps that was only a dream.

That father was dead however and Rhaegar had mourned him a very long time ago. He had been dead from the moment he had read about the prophecy, perhaps it hadn't been the prophecy itself that had driven him to madness. It was Duskendale, everyone agreed, that had pushed his father into the embrace of madness but the prophecy had been what had lain the seeds.

 _"And it has lain it's seeds in me as well, sometimes the prophecy is all I can think about."_ It had consumed him, he had been it's vessel. Making sure that the saviour of the world was born into it had left him no time for anything else, all of his dreams were about the prince and his sister. Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya come again.

Well, in truth not all of his dreams. Some had been filled with his new wife, she was beautiful and while she did not enjoy it here she had always had a smile for Rhaegar when she saw him and the rare times he was able to spend time in her company she seemed to lighten Dragonstone, her name as the Light of the West seemed to him well deserved. Dreams of her came into his head even when he shared his bed and while he could not say that he loved her, he found that he was increasingly fond of her.

Still other times he found that his dreams were full of Elia, he had always said that he had never loved her but no one should be filling his dreams quite this much if he didn't feel something for her. He thought of the babe that would still be growing in her now, when she had told him that she was pregnant with her north lord's child he hadn't been able to stop the surge of fire that he had felt in himself at the thought of her carrying a babe that wasn't his, it had woken the dragon in him.

In his dreams he had dreamed that it had been his child she was filled with, he had dreamed of singing a sweet song to the babe as it grew inside it's mother and then dreamed of the babe at it's mother's breast, it had been a girl he thought but he couldn't be certain. She would've been Rhaenys come again.

And still in other dreams it was Jon that came to him, he was still unsure on how to deal with those dreams and thoughts. They had always been rare but they had never left, he found himself dreaming of those strong arms encircling him and Jon holding him against his chest. Jon was taller and broader than him and Rhaegar had found that he had liked that.

The Prophecy. Cersei. Elia. Jon. His mother. His brother. Aegon. Rhaenys. Visenya. The Long Night. They were all that consumed his thoughts now, there had never been time for anything else. He knew nothing else.

It wasn't such a long fall down to the waves, he probably wouldn't even realise he was falling until it was far too late to worry about it.

The sheer shock of that thought brought him out of his mind like someone had slapped him before dumping a tub of ice water over his head, he shock his head and turned away from the balcony and walked back inside the small chamber and went over to the fireplace so that he might warm himself. He hated Dragonstone, he always had. This terrible placed had never brought him any peace, it saddened him and filled his thoughts with darkness.

Perhaps when all of this was over he would lock his father up here, lock him away in the top of the Stone Drum and let him rule over the painted table. He could be the king of that as much as he liked, he could burn it to ashes for all he truly cared.

He closed his eyes and took three deep, slow breaths and ordered himself to calm down. He could not be selfish and fall apart, there was still so much more for him to do. So much more that had to be made ready.

The most important thing was that he had to make sure that the promised prince would actually arrive, he had not been shy from Cersei's bed and he found that he enjoyed staying there after the business of making babes was done. The bed had always been warm and Cersei would beg for him to stay, he would go to her bed tonight as well.

He had not said anything to her as he did not wish to upset his new wife but he had been concerned as of late, he had not been shy and Cersei had always been eager for him to come in to her bed and she would often plead that he stay with her on the nights that he could not but as of yet there had been no babe, her moonblood had been coming as it should've been.

He knew more than most how difficult the making of babes could be, he remembered how many times that his mother had lost a babe, bleeding them out or being born dead or dying while they were still just infants. If all of them had lived then Rhaegar and Viserys would have more than enough brothers and sisters to fulfil the prophecy.

But that was in a better world, and this world wasn't that one.

But if Cersei couldn't give him the children he needed then he would need another woman to bare them and that meant that he would have to set her aside for another woman, that would not sit well with Tywin Lannister and he needed Tywin on his side when he reached for the throne, he was the closest and most powerful ally that Rhaegar had, not that he wouldn't need the other lords but Rickard Stark and Doran Martell were too far away, Robert Baratheon had no true stake in this horse and he wasn't sure where he would fall on the matter, Jon Arryn was something of an unknown as well. All he could be certain of was that he knew that Rickard, Doran and Jon were forming alliances.

Mace Tyrell was loyal enough to his father, he was as ambitious as the rest of the great lords but he knew that the Tyrells and the rest of the Reach were offended when it was announced that the king had betrothed Rhaegar to Elia but the wound had been soothed a little when their engagement had been broken still, the Lord of Highgarden was left out of the loop as Rhaegar couldn't be certain if he could trust him.

Balon Greyjoy wasn't truly important enough to be of any help and the Ironborn wouldn't be of any true military help at any rate, Rhaegar was planning on making this revolution as bloodless as possible and the ironborn weren't well known for being merciful, most likely they would take advantage of any of the chaos that would naturally sprout up and launch raids, he would have to deal with them most likely when he was king.

Rhaegar needed Tywin more than any other of the great lords and he couldn't risk offending him, he could hope that he understood. After all a king needed heirs and if his daughter was incapable of giving them to him then he would need a wife that could. He could offer to take another Lannister bride but he got the feeling that wouldn't sooth Tywin Lannister's wounds, he wanted his daughter to be the queen after all.

He was stuck, between a rock and a hard place.

For a brief moment he consider that maybe Cersei wasn't the problem, perhaps it was him. He knew that there were some men who couldn't sire a child but he had never considered for a single moment that he might be one of them, he could ask Dragonstone's maester to examine him, and maybe ask Cersei to submit to it as well, if it was proven that there was a problem then he could send from potions from Essos, the free cities. He had heard that they had been able to help men and woman who had such problems.

Perhaps it wasn't even him who was to bring forth the prince, it occurred to him that it could be Viserys. It might not be either of them, perhaps one of their sons would sire the prince instead.

No, that couldn't be true. He had given so much to make sure that he would bring forth the prince, that the realm would be strong enough to face the long night and the others, it couldn't have all been for nothing. He had read all the signs right, he was sure that he had. He was going to be the father of the prince, of his sisters and his name would be remembered forever.

There could be no other outcome.

He needed to get some fresh air, he needed to go. Rhaegar turned and made his way to the doors of the room and pulled them open and began to descend the spiral staircase outside. He descended all the way down until he was at the bottom of the tower and pushed upon the doors, the cold sea air bit at Rhaegar's hands and face and he had to close his eyes as the wind blew into his eyes.

Was it any wonder that Dragonstone wore on his mood so? The island was as gloomy as the castle itself and it's people were as cool as hard as their home, he felt sorry for which ever of his children would to inherit Dragonstone. Perhaps he would just grant it to a noble and faithful lord, he would hate to force this place on anyone but someone had to have it and he was rather a stranger have it than one of his children or someone he cared about.

He walked along the castle walls, his arm held out in front of his face to block the cold wind. The gargoyles loomed out of the black shadows, the cruel faces of harpies and hellhounds stared out into the sea. The army of monsters had always unsettled him, he had a vague memory of hiding his face in his mother's skirts when he had first seen them staring down at him from the high walls of the fortress.

On that first night he had dreamed that the stone statues would come to life and a harpy would land on his balcony and rip him from his bed and carry him away in the night as the stone dragons would come to life and the castle crumbled to stones. He had awoken screaming and he had not been soothed until his mother came to him and sung him back to sleep.

He was older and wiser now, the stone statues wouldn't be coming to life any time soon and Dragonstone wasn't actually made of Dragons that had been turned to stone. The towers had simply been carved out of black stone, it was an incredible artistic achievement that Rhaegar could appreciate but nothing more.

He finally reached the door other side of the wall and pulled it open and Rhaegar side as he was back in the warmth, that wasn't to say that the castle was very warm but it was like standing in a fire compared to outside.

Rhaegar resumed his journey through the castle until he finally reached his wife's chambers, Rhaegar had made sure that she was given the largest and warmest chamber that could be found aside from the Lord's chamber and she seemed content enough inside it all though he knew that she would never truly be happy here.

He pushed the door open and the first sight that greeted him was his wife sitting by the roaring fire in the heath, surrounded by her ladies. The fire made her golden hair shine and her eyes glow like the green flames that his father loved more than anything in the world. Perhaps it should worry him so that in that moment he could almost understand his father's fixation with the green flames.

Being the princess of the seven kingdoms suited his new wife, she had not stopped wearing his colours even though she told him that she disliked how pale black made her luck but she did not wish to offend him by inverting the colours either. The fire caught the ruby that was set in her ring and her chocker and made them glow with a pale red light, the emeralds in her hair sparkled in the light as well. She was beautiful, no more beautiful a maid had there ever been. No one could deny that.

Her ladies were not well know to Rhaegar, it wasn't truly much of his business to know who his wife choose to surround herself with. All he did know was that most of them were from the Westerlands, in fact he was certain that two of them were Lannisters through from a lesser branch of the family than the main one at Casterly Rock.

However two of the ladies were from the Reach and yet another was from the Riverlands, Cersei had not been gracious in describing them when she was lying next to him. She had told him that the girl from the Riverlands was named Jenna and that she was from an unimportant house that nobody cared about and it had taken all of her father's influence just to get her to a position where she might serve the future queen. Cersei had said that she had half a mind to just dismiss her on the spot so she could go back crying to her father and bare his wrath at her failure.

The girls from the Reach were distantly related to the Tyrell's, which was not much of an achievement as half of that realm seemed to be related to the Tyrells. Again, his wife had made it clear that she didn't like them and she even thought that they might be spying on her. While he was certainly glad that she was open to the possibility of there being spies in her midst if Rhaegar was going to be truthful then he thought that she was simply being a little paranoid.

She little good to say about her ladies from the Westerlands, she had little to say about any of them as a matter of fact. She simply told him how almost every single house had been competing to have one of their daughters serve as one of her ladies. They didn't want any influence with the crown, they wanted influence, as little as it might be, with her father.

As she spoke of them all Rhaegar was reminded of how cruel a person his wife could actually be, he had seen evidence of it before, there could be no doubt of that. He remembered how she had been interrogated by his father about why her father had been late for the tourney and why her mother had left the service of his mother. To take the attention of off her Cersei had thrown his mother into his father's sight, reminding him that she had been the one to dismiss her.

That had not been something that Rhaegar had easily forgiven, even during their wedding feast and for days afterwards he had been angry with her. He still had not truly forgiven her for it.

He cleared his throat when it became apparent that none of them had noticed that he had come in, the ladies were deep in conversation and needlework. Well, the ladies around Cersei were doing both of those things, Cersei herself had a distant look on her face and it was clear that she had long ago stopped listening to anything her ladies were actually saying.

Her green eyes brightened when they landed on him and she stood to greet him as did the rest of her ladies, curtsying and smiling and giggling as they did so. "My love, how good of you to come and see us." Cersei breathed, her golden hair falling in front of her face.

"My ladies, might I have a moment alone with my wife." In truth Rhaegar didn't need to ask, all he had to do was say the word and they would leave the room in a storm but it was a nice pretence that he was asking and sometimes there had to be pretences when you were ruling. All of the ladies nodded and curtsied again before they left the room.

Rhaegar said a few words of farewell and a few niceties as well, such as he would love to visit Lady Jenna's family holdfast and that one of the ladies of the Reach was utterly enchanting. When the door closed and he turned back to face Cersei he suddenly found his wife in his arms and her lips were pressed against his. Rhaegar could not stop himself from pulling her closer to himself.

"You've no idea how much I've missed you, I swear I can feel my mind wasting away when I am trapped with them. I need to find more entertaining company." Cersei gasped in between her kisses and gasps for air, Rhaegar desired her. He couldn't stop that and he didn't want too, he wanted to rip her dress of and take her over a table but he knew he couldn't do that. It wasn't befitting for a prince.

"You should be kinder to them, I know you don't like them but you're going to be the queen soon enough and if word spreads that the queen is cruel to her ladies then it would not look good on you, on us." Rhaegar pulled back and examine her, her pale skin was alight with a red blush that made her look even more beautiful than she already was and her eyes were lidded with desire.

"I'm sorry, I never want to upset you. I can suffer them for you." Cersei said sweetly, breathlessly as though the mere act of pleasing him in anything brought her such pleasure that there were no words that could describe it. "You said that girl from the Reach was beautiful, enchanting. She isn't more pretty than me, is she? You think I am much more beautiful than her, don't you?"

"Of course I do, and you know that you are as well." A simple truth that could not be ignored, though his wife always liked to be reminded that she was more beautiful than any other and Rhaegar had found that it was best to indulge her in that as she tended to grow cold if she ever thought that someone was more lovely than her.

"I want you, my sweet prince. Please, please take me." He wanted too, by all the gods old and new he wanted too and he needed too if there was ever going to be an heir. But there were things that demanded his attention, he may not enjoying ruling Dragonstone but he was still it's prince and the island would not rule itself. And so he gently took Cersei's fingers and pressed a kiss to all of them gently.

"I would my lady wife, but things call on my attention but I assure you that at the end of the night that I will return to you. You have my vow." That seemed to please her at least a little but he was certain that staying with her would have pleased her better, still there was too much to do and so with a kiss pressed to her flushed cheek, Rhaegar turned and left the room.

He had to speak with both the castellan and the master and the man-at-arms on top of it all, Dragonstone was separate from the Seven Kingdoms in terms of being apart but it was still part of the realm and there were still letters from all corners. It was also possible that letters had come from the great lords and if that was true then he needed to know.

His father would be watching for him sending letters but letters arriving would with a bit of good fortune should be able to reach him unmolested. He needed word form Lord Rickard and Prince Doran, he knew that Elia, her husband and her brother had managed to get out of the city, he had been there to see them off after all but he wasn't certain what Elia had done with the letters he had given her.

If he was Elia than he would've given the letters to her brother and to her husband as both of them were heading back to their homes and they could've given the letters to the people they needed to go to, the only problem was that he was only assuming that was what Elia had done with the letters. She had been angry with him for involving her in this, for dragging her family into this matter. It was highly likely that she had just thrown them into a fire as soon as he had left the room.

And even if she had agreed to send the message onward he wasn't sure if Oberyn Martell and Ned Stark would pass it on, he didn't know them well enough. He knew that Oberyn didn't like him very much and he had been against the union, though he had heard that he had been in a rage when he heard that Rhaegar's father had called of the engagement thought that was most likely because he thought that his beloved sister was being slighted and not because he had approved of the union in the first place.

After meeting with the castellan Rhaegar had found that his dour mood had only gotten worse, the lowfolk of the island were never the happiest people but it had been a harsh few moons and the mood was even grimmer that the weather. The people of Dragonstone were a hardy people but there was only so much a person could endure before they wanted better.

He doubted that they were going to revolt, they had suffered worse but surely the only true worth of a lord was how happy the people he was supposed to protect were? The worst thing was there was truly little that he could do to make any of it better, they were at the mercy of the sea for most of their food and the stores of Dragonstone had never been the most plentiful, he couldn't afford to throw them open and tell the men and woman to eat their fill as much as he might like too.

It occurred to him that he actually had not eaten today, he had slept longer than usual this morning and when he had woken up he had found that he had wanted some time on his own, he had to fight a battle with Harlan Grandison so that he could be left on his own for a moment. It was good that it was him as Lewyn Martell and Oswell Whent would not have surrender so easily to him.

It wasn't that Ser Grandison was a bad knight it was just that he was an old man, he was the only member left of his grandfather's original Kingsguard and he continued to serve his father when he took the throne but he had been an old man even back then and he had not gotten any younger. Arthur had even told him that during meetings of the Kingsguard in the white sword tower the man had forgotten which King he was meant to be serving.

Rhaegar knew the truth of that well enough, there had been more than one time when the old knight had thought that he was his father. He was respected by all the members of the Kingsguard and, strangely enough, by his father as well. That was perhaps the only reason that the king wasn't offended when he was called by his father's name.

Still, despite that respect his father had sent Grandison with him to guard him and his wife along with Oswell Whent and Lewyn Martell, if his father attempted to have him assassinated then he supposed it made a certain sense to send Grandison with him as it was unlikely he would be able to fight off a group of assassins. He wasn't certain why he chose to send Lewyn and Oswell with him though as both were excellent swordsmen.

If he had to guess than he would assume that his father wanted Lewyn gone because he feared for his own safety, as he often did now due to his paranoia. Ser Lewyn had not taken well to the fact that his niece had been set aside by the king, he had only joined the Kingsguard under the pleas of his sister as she had been planning to marry her daughter to Rhaegar for years. His irritation had only grown when the king had spoken ill of his late sister on the morning of the tourney, Arthur had told him that he had nearly broken his sword that night when he had turned it against a training dummy that night.

Being sent to Dragonstone had done little to improve his mood as he had been separated from his paramour, the fact that the Dornishman had a paramour was one of the worst kept secrets in King's Landing but Ser Lewyn had always been dutiful and had never let it interfere with his other vows so it had been mostly overlooked, no one even knew who the paramour was or even if they were a man or a woman as Ser Lewyn had always been where he was needed when he was needed.

Of the three the only one that Rhaegar couldn't understand why he was here was Ser Oswell Whent, he was as loyal to the king as any Kingsguard should be and had always served well. Rhaegar had to imagine that it had just came down to who the king wanted around him the most, he was never going to send Arthur with him as he was the best swordsman that his father had in his guard and he knew how close he and Arthur was.

Jonothor Darry was his father's man through and through, he lived and breathed his vows. In that he was almost a perfect Kingsguard and was of no use to Rhaegar and it made sense that his father would want him near, Barristan Selmy was loyal to the king as well and almost as great a warrior as Arthur so that explained why his father kept him near and Gerold Hightower was the lord commander and his place was with his king.

It seemed that Oswell Whent had simply drawn the short straw in this matter, not that the man had complained of course but none of the guards with him had volunteered to come with him.

Rhaegar made his way to the kitchens and asked for some small fare to tide him over until dinner, a bowl of porridge that had been soaked in honey, three softly boiled eggs and a few slices of bread smeared with blackberry jam found their way into his stomach easily enough. He had hoped that a full stomach might make him feel better but in truth all it had done was make his stomach stop complaining for the moment.

He thanked the cooks for their work and stood from the stool that he had sat down on before turning to leave, before he could however the door opened so suddenly that he thought for a moment that it would fly off of it's hinges. Maester Acuan stood in the door, panting slightly and it was clear from the sweat on his brow that he had been running to get here.

Maester Acuan was not a young man by any means but a life of constant word had left him as tough as a pair of old boots, he had been a farmer's youngest son in the Reach, near Oldtown and one day his father had saved up enough to send him to the Citadel. He had been sneered on his entire time there, so he had told Rhaegar, but now that farmer's boy was a maester with chain forged from links of iron, black iron, red gold, yellow gold, silver, pewter, copper, lead, steel and even one link of Valyrian Steel.

"My prince, they told me that you were here." After a few moments the wise maester managed to regain his breath and stood to his full height was almost half a foot taller than Rhaegar, his broad form almost completely filled the doorway. "The castellan told me to come and find you, we have a small issue that has arisen. Lord Sunglass is here and is demanding to see you. I have to imagine that this is to do with the recent...difficulties in King's Landing. He's waiting for you in the chamber of the painted table"

Rhaegar sighed heavily and rubbed at his forehead with his fingertips to try and diminished the headache that was building, he knew that this was coming but a part of him had naively hoped that it would never come up. That the pious Lord Sunglass would've just stayed where he was at Sweetport Sound, praying on what to do but he knew that he wasn't that lucky.

"We had better go and see to him then." In the end this might prove to be something of a blessing in disguise, Lord Sunglass wasn't truly a great lord but he was well respected not just in the crownlands but by the faith as well so having him as an ally would be useful. The Maester nodded and began to lead him towards the stone drum.

They reached the top of the stone drum and Lord Sunglass and the castellan were waiting for them. Moonstones glimmered at Lord Guncer's throat and wrists and fingers, the clear stones always looked strange when put against the lord's red skin. Normally the red skin was caused by the fact that the fat lord had to climb many stairs, but now the redness was caused by the rage that the pious lord must be feeling.

When Guncer's eyes landed on Rhaegar he had to admit that the sheer hate in his eyes made him hesitate, he knew that anger was not personally directed at him, at least he hoped that it wasn't, but it was still very much disturbing to see such anger in the pious man's eyes as normally there had only ever been kindness in them. "My lord of house Sunglass, it is always wonderful to see you. It has been far too long, how may I be of service?"

"My prince, forgive me but I am not here to listen to pointless pleasantries. Your father had committed crimes against the gods, he has broken a marriage. It may not have been one conducted in the light of the seven but it was a legal union none the less and he is spitting on the power of the faith!" With every word that fell from Lord Sunglass's lips Rhaegar could hear the anger rising higher and higher, threatening to burst out an consume them all in a wave.

"That would be terrible enough, to shame the gods and the High Septon in this way but he would not be content with that. He has committed deicide, he has murdered the High Septon!" The man screamed, his face now as red as a tomato as tears of rage and deep sorrow rolled down his cheeks. Rhaegar could say nothing in defence to this, there was nothing to defend it.

The High Septon had not been a young man but he had come to court to speak with his father all the same, he had made it clear that the faith would not stand with the king on this matter as dissolving a marriage which had been consummated and had a child on the way was beyond anyone's power and dissolving a marriage was a power that belonged only to the leader of the Faith even if the marriage was not conducted in the name of the faith.

His father had not taken the holy man's words well and his pyromancers were called and the court was summoned to watch as the High Septon, the gods avatar in this world, was tied to a stake and burned alive by his father's jade fire. The High Septon had begged and pleaded for his life, had beseeched the king in the name of the gods to change his mind and when he was tied to the stake he had begged to the court to save him, lest they burn in the seven hells for all eternity.

No one moved from where they stood as they watched the green flames lick at the bottom of the gold and white robes, no one wanted to draw the mad king's attention so the noble lords and ladies bit their tongues, wiped away their tears and said their prayers under their breath. The High Septon, in fairness to him, had tried to be brave even as the fire sets his robes alight, praying to the Father to judge him justly and the Mother to have mercy.

That was as far as he had gotten before his prayers had turned to screams, the scab king looking down from the iron throne with what could only be joy in his eyes.

When the fire had died down and all that was left of the gods chosen representative was jade cinders and a pile of ash, Rhaegar knew that he had to get himself and his wife and his mother and brother as far away from King's Landing as soon as possible.

He had to wait for a few days to pass as if he tried to leave for Dragonstone that day then his father would try and stop him from going and might have been offended and offending the king now was not a good idea, if he could burn the High Septon to ashes then Rhaegar being his son and heir would not be enough to protect him.

After all, he still had Viserys.

After three days had passed far too slowly and filled with barely hidden terror he had approached his father, he had knelt before him and asked if he could take his wife to see Dragonstone. His father had been quiet and stared down at him and Rhaegar had felt sweat break out across his skin and it took all of his self control to stop himself from swallowing around the knot that had formed in his throat.

Perhaps the gods had been smiling down him instead of the High Septon since his father had scoffed and said that he had his leave to go, a part of him knew that he should not have pushed his luck but he had to at least try so he had asked if he could take his mother and brother with him.

His father had not taken it well, he had screamed and ranted and for a few long moments Rhaegar thought that he was dead. That he was going to summon his pyromancers and the court and he was going to be burned like so many before him, it would certainly set an example if burning the High Septon hadn't, do not anger the king as even being born from his body would not save you from his wrath.

But as soon as the storm had come it had passed and his father simply said that his wife and his son belonged with him and with him they would stay and just like that Rhaegar was dismissed from his father's presence and Rhaegar returned to his wife's side, telling her they were leaving in the morning and that he would make certain that the ship was arranged.

"Is it true that he means to name one of the pyromancers as the High Septon? He can not do that!" Lord Sunglass's ranting had brought Rhaegar out of his memory and he focused all his attention back on to him. "The High Septon must be chosen by the Most Devout, the king can not appoint his own High Septon and he must be a member of the Faith! The king forgets himself!"

Rhaegar was half tempted to remind the man that Baelor the Blessed disregarded the Most Devout and named his own High Septons but that was a hole that he didn't want to dig for himself at the moment, Baelor was well loved by the Faith and the smallfolk and he could've chosen a cow to be the High Septon and the Faith most likely would've accepted it. Regardless, he didn't wish to anger Lord Sunglass at the moment and stating that fact most likely would've lead to an argument and besides, it wasn't as if Rhaegar disagreed.

Rhaegar turned to the castellan and the maester and dismissed them both although it was clear to him that both of them seemed to be uncertain about leaving their prince alone with a man who was clearly half mad with rage, Rhaegar insisted that they leave and he was glad that he did not have to make it an order. Regardless they had nothing to be concerned about as Rhaegar was a more than capable warrior and even if he wasn't Lord Sunglass was hardly much of a threat and despite how angry he was even he knew better than to attack a prince of the realm.

Once both men had left them alone at the top of the stone drum Rhaegar turned to face the man. "Lord Sunglass, forgive me for being the one to tell this to you but I think given what my father has done recently I think we can both agree that he doesn't much care about what he can not do anymore. It seems to me that he has decided that the king is the ultimate authority in the land now. After all, who will defy him? He has shown that he is more than willing to burn people alive no matter what their station and it not easy to defy a king even when they are of stable mind. So, I ask you what should I do? What can I do?"

He couldn't be direct and say it, he couldn't because even thinking of dethroning a king was treason and kinslaying was the worst sin imaginable, even worse than kingslaying. Of course Rhaegar had never planned on killing his father anyway, simply depose him and lock him away, but lord Sunglass wouldn't know that and if he thought that Rhaegar was planning on killing him to take the throne then he could run off and spread the word and everything would be ruined and he could not allow that to happen.

He had to let Lord Sunglass come to the same conclusion that he had and make him think that he had convinced Rhaegar to move against his father and not the other way around.

The man was clearly deep in thought and that struck Rhaegar as a good sign. After a few moments the man let out a heavy sigh. "My Prince, in all the years that my house had been sworn to Dragonstone I had never known a better ruler than you. You are a good and just man, I am certain of that. You must surely not agree with the terrible crimes that your father has been committing?"

"Of course not my lord, I was married to my wife in the light of the seven and by the High Septon. My belief in the gods is as strong as your own and I am their humble servant in all things and the High Septon has been in my prayers every night since my father murdered him." In truth Rhaegar had never had much faith in the gods, they said that the Mother loved all but that didn't stop them from dying, they said that the Father judged all justly but it didn't stop evil men from ruling over good men.

If any of the gods were real and had any power then it would have to be the Stranger, plenty of people died every day after all. But that was not what Lord Sunglass wanted or needed to here. He wanted Rhaegar to be the pious son who loved his father and his king but loved the Seven oh so much more and Rhaegar was more than happy to play that role if it got him what he needed.

"I know that you do and I know that you would, the High Septon is always in my prayers and he is always in my thoughts. If ever a man deserved to rest in the greatest of the seven heavens then it is he. Still, his death is a tragedy and a crime and it must be answered for." Lord Sunglass let out a heavy sigh as if even thinking the words were hurting him and they probably were. "My prince, forgive me for saying this and know that I will pray to the Father Above that he will forgive me as well but something must be done."

And there it was, Rhaegar quickly adopted an expression that was equal parts troubled, shocked and saddened. "My lord of Sunglass...If you are suggesting what I think that you are suggesting...No, I can not do such a thing. Whatever else he is, he is still my father. I love him. To do what you suggest, I would commit kin and kingslaying. I would be cursed, I can not do such a terrible thing."

"Your grace, I know that it is hard to hear. It is harder for me to say, he is my king and I swore to serve my king and always be faithful to him. But I also swore to be faithful to the gods, I read the seven pointed star every day and swear to live my life by it's teachings and love the gods in everything that I do. Your father has made doing both of these things impossible to do. Something has to be done."

Rhaegar turned and walked over to one of the chamber's long windows and looked out on to the horizon, Lord Sunglass most likely thought it was to hide his tears or to get some air so that he might think on what to make off all of this but in truth it was simply to hide his expression off utter disbelief at how well this was going. "Perhaps...perhaps you are right, things can not continue as they are."

He turned and walked back over to the large table and looked down on to it, from where he was standing he could look straight down on King's Landing. Well, he could look at where King's Landing should be as when the table was made King's Landing had not been there. "But perhaps he does not have to die, if we could simply depose him as King and we could lock him away so that he could cause no harm."

"An excellent suggestion my Prince, he can be sent to a convent where he can pray and repent for the rest of his days." It wasn't exactly what Rhaegar had planned but if worst came to worst then anything would do so long as he was out of the way, in truth it might actually be a better idea as making certain that his father was away from any true power was probably for the better, though he had to admit that he would feel sorry for the brothers who would be forced to bare his father for the rest of his days.

"I must think some more on this Lord Sunglass, it is not an easy thing that you have asked me to consider. May I offer you the comforts of my halls for the night? The sailors say that there may be a storm and I do not wish for you to be taken at sea." There was some truth in that, the waters around Dragonstone were difficult at best but when there was a storm brewing it was nearly impossible to leave.

Lord Sunglass accepted his invitation with all the grace that a Lord should have but before he left Rhaegar asked him that he not send any ravens or mention anything of this conversation to anyone, after all anyone could speak out and inform the king rather than face his wrath. The pious lord said that he understood and left the chamber and as soon as the door was shut Rhaegar let out a heavy sigh and rested against the painted table.

He was exhausted but this was perhaps for the best, Lord Sunglass was something of an ally now even though he would more than likely have an overblown sense of self-importance about his role. Still, every ally was helpful in some small ways and Sunglass had some useful relations that come in handy, if he was correct then Tanda Stokeworth was a relation to Sunglass and with how close Castle Stokeworth was to King's Landing that had it's uses.

Rhaegar looked down at the painted table and brought his finger's across it's coloured surface, he wondered if this was how Aegon to Conqueror felt all those years ago on the eve of his invasion when the seven kingdoms were still just seven kingdoms. When Rhaegar was done this table may have to be chopped up for firewood and a new one made as the entire thing could look completely different if everything got out of hand which it occurred to him that it might since all his plans hinged on everything going perfectly and when did they ever do that?

His head was pounding and he found that everything else could wait until later, no matter what else he was uncertain about he was certain of one thing.

Most of the seven kingdoms would still be there in the morning.

End of Chapter Thirty-one.

* * *

 **This is a chapter that I really enjoyed writing, I have mixed feelings on Rhaegar but I really enjoyed getting into his head. For those who are wondering Guncer Sunglass is a character from the books and he is a lord sworn to Dragonstone and he winds up supporting Stannis, we don't know much about him other than he is quite religious and this, uh, brings him into some...conflict, with a certain Red Priestess. Anyway I love expanding on minor characters we don't know much about and Sunglass is going to play a larger role in this story.**

 **A couple of things that we should talk about, one; I'm not trying to show Rhaegar and Cersei's marriage as being a bad one cause that would just be too easy. Cersei loved Rhaegar and wanted to marry him, as a reviewer pointed out and it would be a happier union. Rhaegar doesn't love her but he is at least trying to make it work as is Cersei.**

 **A second thing that different reviewer pointed out was that Tyrion calling for wine seemed out of character cause around this time frame, he would be around eight or nine. While this is true of the books I would like to point out that Tyrion is much closer to the show than the books so in this fic he is closer to fourteen. Plus, Westeros is based on medieval times and kids drunk wine a lot younger than they do now as it was one of a few things that they knew was safe to drink.**

 **Thirdly, Jon Connington being the Hand of the King. In the books he was not the hand of the king at this point but as this a GOT fanfic and GOT changed a lot of things around, Aerys is Aegon V's son instead of his grandson for example, things are changed around here so that Jon is the hand before the rebellion instead.**

 **Keep in mind this is still a GOT fic with just a few things from the books brought over to enrich it, Dorne, Doran, Elia, the Sand Snakes and Oberyn, though to a lesser extent, are closer to their book versions cause they are superior. In my opinion. Arianne and Quentyn exisit in this version as well as you will have noticed.**

 **I hope this clears a few things up and that you enjoyed, please review, favourite and follow if you like.**

 **Next chapter we're heading back to Winterfell but our POV won't be a Stark, then we will be heading back to Casterly Rock and after that we're coming back to Dragonstone. However I plan to update some other stories before this one.**

 **Many thanks and I hope everyone had a lovely holiday,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	32. Chapter 32

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Two.

The snow fell softly outside and Ashara watched as it fell to the ground with a sad smile, the snow was beautiful and the way it gently covered the roofs of Winterfell's towers made the ancient castle seem even more beautiful, and mysterious, than it was normally. Ever since she had come North with Elia she had been surprised by how often it snowed, it was the time for it of course but it made her long for spring.

Of course, she had heard that it snowed in the north even when it was summer but the winter was almost unbearable even as it cast them into a beautiful and silent world, you would never be able to tell that there was such unease and sadness and anger inside the ancient castle. Ashara stood with a sigh and wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and shut the window's shutters.

Ashara's room had some of the piping that carried the hot water of the springs up and around the great castle but it still wasn't one of the hottest rooms and on cold days it made little difference so she had taken to keeping her blanket wrapped around her even when in her thickest furs, she was Dornish. It never snowed in Dorne and she wasn't used to it.

She had seen snow before of course, once she and Arthur had gone to the Vale with their older brother to meet old Lord Jon Arryn, Ashara wasn't so blind as to not know why they hadn't gone. You didn't just pass that amount of distance without some reason behind it, it was about a betrothal. Ashara still didn't quite know the full details of the possible match but she had to assume she was going to marry either the old lord, or more likely his heir, his young nephew Elbert Arryn.

Lord Arryn and his nephew had both been very kind to her, the nephew was quite a skilled knight and was not unbearable to look upon and while Lord Arryn was certainly an old man it was clear to look at him that he had been a handsome man in his youth, she had dinner with the both of them together and found them both to be pleasant enough men and the Eyrie was a very pleasant castle, even through going up and down the mountain might kill her just from the fear of it.

She could've been quite content there with either of the Arryn men as her husband, but she did not wish to be content. She wanted to be happy, besides the Vale was not Dorne and she certainly got the feeling that neither of them would want her to bring her bastard daughter with her and she would never leave Lauryn, not for anything in this world.

Thankfully, her older brothers were not such fools as to make her try and do something that she did not want to do, and so her eldest brother had firmly but respectfully had told them that no marriage would come of this the night before they had left to go back to Dorne. When she had finally returned to Dorne she had only stayed a few days with Lauryn until she was sent to King's Landing to serve the queen until Prince Doran had summoned her back.

When he had told her that he was sending her north with Elia, and that he wanted her to take Lauryn with her, she wasn't sure what to think, she couldn't deny him. He was her prince and she was a dornishwoman but taking Lauryn with her meant that Brandon would see her. She never wanted to Brandon to see the girl, he had no claim to her.

She remembered the night he had help create her well enough, it had been a night that she had quite a few fond memories of but those memories had been soured when she realised that she was with child. Not because she resented her daughter in any way, she had loved her from the moment she had held her in her arms and knew that she was utterly perfect. Ashara would've changed nothing about her.

No, what soiled the memories of that night was the fact that her daughter would never get to know her father. She had never intended for a child to be created that night, Ashara was no fool as to be taken in by a charming man's words but Brandon Stark was one of the most handsome men she had ever looked upon and he could actually be quite charming when he wanted to be and he wanted to be when he thought that he had a chance of having her in his bed for the night.

Ashara wasn't a fool, she knew how beautiful she was and that plenty of men wanted to boast that they had the maid of Starfall in their bed, perhaps a tiny part of her had wanted to brag that she had the wild wolf of Winterfell in her bed. It had been at a small feast that had been held at Castle Stockworth, Lady Tanda Stokeworth was trying to find a match for her younger daughter Lollys, she was a pretty girl from what Ashara could remember but she had been a little overweight and she was lacking in wits though she was a sweet girl with a gentle heart and the way she had smiled when she saw all the people who had come to see her than it made up for any shortcomings, that sheer joy had made her the most beautiful girl in the world.

Ashara liked her more than she did her older sister, Falyse, at any rate. An unpleasant woman who resembled a fish and who sneered at those she thought were below her and pleaded for the attention and favour of those she knew was above her, her husband wasn't much better, a sour knight whose name that Ashara couldn't remember on the top of her head.

Ashara had still been serving the Queen at that point and she had been invited by Lady Tanda to attend the feast so Ashara had attended with her along with two of her other ladies, she had tried to keep her head down as she didn't want to steal any attention away from Lollys but when someone had come to speak with her it wasn't as if she could ignore them so she had locked up to meet eyes with the wild wolf himself.

She had met Brandon before that night, although met was perhaps a generous way of putting it, at some tourney or other so she knew who he was so she didn't understand why the heir to Winterfell was attending a feast in honour of the second born daughter of a house sworn to King's Landing, he couldn't seriously be considering taking Lollys Stokeworth for a wife.

Not that the poor girl didn't deserve a good match to be certain but Brandon was going to be the Lord Paramount of the North one day and more than likely would be the warden of the North as well, it was a match that would certainly make Lady Tanda happy but she couldn't understand why Lord Brandon's father would want his son to marry a lady from House Stokeworth.

They weren't a particularly old or powerful family, nor did they have a great deal of money. There was no reason why House Stokeworth would be of any benefit to House Stark so there was no reason for them to be wed and as much as she hated to admit it she doubted that poor Lollys was quite Lord Brandon's favourite sort to conquer so she doubted that lust was the reason he was here.

Still, it wasn't as if she could ask him what he had been doing there as she didn't have a right to know anyway. Brandon had asked if he could have her for a dance and Ashara would've said yes but as a lady in service to a queen she couldn't say yes to him on her own, thankfully Queen Rhaella was kind and understanding and allowed her to share a dance with Brandon.

The one dance soon turned into two, and those two soon turned into five and she soon found herself sitting at Brandon's table and drinking with him, enjoying his company far more than she thought she would. She knew that it wasn't suitable for a queen's lady to be sitting with a man that she wasn't married too but Queen Rhaella hadn't seemed to mind as she had been too busy talking with Lady Tanda about something or other to pay much attention to what her ladies or handmaidens were doing.

The feast had been going on long into the night and Lady Tanda was a generous host, and willing to do anything to impress her queen, and she had been keeping the wine flowing and the food plentiful. Plenty of men and women were deep in their cups that night and she was certain, looking back that plenty of bastards had been made that night.

She just hadn't thought that at the time that she would be one of the ladies walking away with an interesting new addition to her family, but she had found herself unable to pull herself away from Brandon Stark. As time passed and more and more lords and ladies left the hall to go to their rooms for the night Brandon had decided that it was time for him to retire but as he stood to his full height he held his hand out for her to take.

A part of her knew then and there that she should have refused him, she had been too familiar with him as it was but as she looked at the High Table where the queen was engrossed in conversation with another of her ladies then turning to speak with Lady Tanda and thinking on just how long it had been since she had been able to partake in this pleasure, it had all been too much and she took his hand.

The next memories were hazy and Ashara wasn't certain if that was to due with the pleasure she had felt or do the wine she had drunk, what she did know was that from what she could remember it was one of the most pleasurable nights that Ashara could remember. She could remember Brandon freeing her from her dressed and taking off his silk shirt and breeches, watching as the light of the fire play across the muscles of his chest, the sight caused her mouth to water far more than the strawberries and cream they had for desert.

It had certainly not been the greatest pleasure she had, she was certain that Dornishmen remained the most supreme lovers in all the land but Brandon had a stamina that she had enjoyed, he seemed unable to get enough of her. They laid together after they had finished, the light of the fire warming them and Brandon's strong arms holding her tight to his chest. She had been surprised by how gentle the northman had been, not just during the act but after it as well.

As much as she would've liked to stay she knew that she couldn't, she was certain that Queen Rhella would understand but it would be for the best if she was back before anyone noticed that she was gone. She slipped out of Brandon's hold and quickly pulled her dress back on, she had been lucky as she had managed not to disturb him as she finished dressing and slipped out of the room.

She returned to the hall only to find it empty, save for a few servants who had decided to get ahead of the cleaning for tomorrow and to sneak a few choice morsels off of the plates that the lords and ladies had left. She had left them too it and made her way to the chambers which had been given to the queen to sleep in, she walked in just in time to see that the queen was sitting in front of the mirror, one of her favourite handmaidens was freeing her hair from her braids and the queen did not turn to look at her, simply gazed at Ashara's reflection in the mirror. "You did nothing to shame me I trust, yes Ashara? A queen surrounds herself with ladies, not whores."

The disapproval in the queen's tone both hurt and surprised but she simply nodded and her queen dismissed her to go to her room, she knew that she shouldn't have been surprised looking back on it as at the time she had still been clinging to the idea that the rest of the kingdoms were like Dorne but of course they weren't and only looking back had she realised how foolish she had been, she could've been dismissed right there and then.

Still, when she woke in the morning and went to break her fast with her queen and her other ladies the queen had smiled at her warmly as if nothing had ever happened. Ashara did not see Brandon again that day or the next or on the day that the queen finally decided that it was time to return to King's Landing, even as she was clearly dreading it.

The king had not been pleased to see his wife again, he barely seemed to notice her at the best of times. At the worst of times he was glad to see her, it meant that he could have his fun with her and no one would even try to stop her not even his kingsguard, who were sworn to protect her as their queen and sworn by their vows as knights to protect women. It did not sit well with her that Arthur, her own dear brother, was part of that. The thought of him, her gallant and favourite brother who taught her how to dance and would twist flowers to make her a crown for her hair when she had been little, would stand by and listen as the queen was raped and hurt by her own husband made bile burn at her throat.

She knew that he couldn't do anything, of course. He had sworn oaths to his king, to serve him and protect him above any other. He could not disobey him, or harm him or kill him for that would make him an oathbreaker, a kingslayer and there was no one more accursed in all the world even though that even back then she thought that if any kind deserved a sword being shoved into his back then it was the Scab King.

For the months that had followed she keep the queen's company and everything seemed fine until one day she woke and her stomach had been in disagreement with her and she had emptied what had been left of her dinner from the previous night into the chamber pot. She had never been with child before but she had seen when her mother was pregnant with her younger sister and she knew the signs well enough.

If she had half the sense the gods had given a pig then she would've brewed some moon tea and have done with it but she hadn't done that, she didn't want to do that. As she had stared down into her chamber pot with the taste of bile still on her lips her thoughts had turned back to her own childhood, she had thought of Elia and herself when they had both been girls in the Water Gardens, splashing and swimming in the pools and running down the pale pink stone. Elia had not often been allowed to play due to how frail she was as a child but Ashara had always stayed close to her and when she was allowed to play it was the most fun that Ashara had ever had, aside from when she played with Arthur.

As they had grown up together they had spoken about who they hoped to marry, Ashara had whispered into her ear that she would not mind marrying Oberyn as then she and Elia would truly be sisters then. Elia had laughed at her and told her they were already sisters, and then she pushed her into a pool. They had also spoke of how when they had their own children about how they would play in the Water Gardens just as they did.

She had known that it was foolish, Elia had no children and she was not even married at the time though whispers had been going around the Red Keep as they always did that with the late Lord and Lady Baratheon having failed in their mission to find a Valyrian bride for their prince, the king was growing more restless and might settle for betrothing his son to Elia due to the valyrian blood present in House Martell. The words had made Ashara angry when she had heard them, it still made her angry to think on them even now. No man would settle for a princess of Dorne, no man would settle for Elia. They would be blessed by the gods to have her. Regardless she would have children soon enough and Ashara wanted their children to be as close as siblings, this would be the first child to do so and she was not shamed that she was with child, it was the people in the Red Keep who would shame.

Her brothers would not turn their backs on her, Arthur had always been her champion. Her defender, like Elia and Oberyn there was only a year between and while Arnold might sneer and grumble and even yell at her he would not forbid her from his halls, nor any child of her body and he would ask no questions which was good as if he did ask and he learned of Brandon then it could end in blood, so many forget that the Daynes were Dornish due to their Andel blood which made their skin light but they were still Dornishmen and a Dornishman's temper was a terrible thing.

She had gone to the queen that morning and asked if she might be allowed leave to go and visit her family, for close to a year. The queen had been silent and she was certain that her ladies and handmaidens had simply the best time gossiping behind her back but she didn't care a whit for them, not one whit about what they thought of her. The queen had given her leave to go but made certain that Ashara swore that she would not return until a year had passed, and she would return alone.

It wasn't the most subtle of warnings but Ashara had heeded it all the same, within a fortnight her trunks were packed and she was back on her way to Starfall. Arthur, who had been given leave by the king to return for Starfall for a few weeks although he would be returning two days after she had arrived, had greeted her with a hug and a kiss to both her cheeks, Arnold had been colder but he had always been that way for as long as she could remember, ever since Ashara had been born her elder brother had been the young lord, the lord in training ready to take over for their father. It saddened her to be certain but at times it was hard to even think of him as a brother, still he had a kiss for her.

Allyria greeted her warmly enough but they had never been very close to one another, it saddened her to say. Elia had beaten the poor girl to the punch at being her sister and when Ashara thought of her sister Elia would always be the face that came to her mind before any other. Her father was dead long before she had left to serve the queen and her mother had never truly left her grief, though Ashara had spied a smile on her face when she had seen that her eldest daughter had returned home.

Ashara had decided that she would tell them all the night she returned, at dinner, Arthur would be returning to King's Landing and it was better to do it while he was still there. Arthur would always support her, in everything. They had just started on the first course, a stew made from meat of seven different snakes which was thickened with onions and carrots and seasoned with black pepper and a few drops of venom with circles of thin bread, dripping in oil made from olives served alongside when she had told them.

She was certain, looking back, that not even Winterfell covered in snow had been as silent as the small dining room of Starfall. Arnold's spoon was held in his frozen gasp as it hovered before his mouth, Arthur stared at her as if she had suddenly grown two heads and announced to all of them that she planned to join the silent sisters, Allyria clearly did not know how to react and her poor mother had finally showed an emotion that was not sorrow for the passing of her late husband, rage.

The silence had not lasted long and soon the small dining room was filled screaming, swearing and stupidity. Pleas had flown as easily as threats and warnings had done and at the end of the night Ashara had stormed out of the small room and locked herself into her old bedchambers. Perhaps at the time she had thought that it would be to easy but it didn't matter, she would not be rid of the child and nothing any of them said would convince her. She had penned a few letters to Elia but knew that she would not be able to send them that night.

Morning had finally come as it was want to do and her family had calmed themselves, Arthur had been shocked from her news but now that he had slept on it and could see it with a clear head he was on her side, sitting next to her at breakfast and making his side in the argument known. Ashara was glad that she had not misjudged her brother because at that moment it seemed like he had been the only ally she had.

Her mother disapproved as she was always want to do, her mother was not Dornish and was the daughter of a lord from the Westerlands, despite all the years she had spent here she did still not understand Dorne. Arnold made his disapproval known by simply staying silent and not speaking to her, Allyria might not have disapproved herself but with her eldest brother and mother against her sister it was not as if there was anything that she could do or say and so her little sister had simply bit her tongue.

Two days had passed too quickly and on the eve before Arthur was due to depart Ashara had sent her letters to Elia, begging her to come and help her. She had seen the two ravens she had attached her messages to fly over the mountains, one towards Sunspear and another towards the Water Gardens as at the time she had no idea where Elia would be.

When Arthur departed she had cried harder than she had ever done before in her entire life although she truly did not want to, she wanted to be strong for him and show that her mother and brother's coldness did not bother her but her resolve had failed her and she had sobbed into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her back and held her close to him, making her feel as safe as he always did.

When Arthur finally did leave she had been expecting the worst, at the time she wasn't entirely sure what the worst was but she knew that whatever happened it would not be good but perhaps Arthur had spoken to them or they both had spent the time calming down as now, at the very least, they were speaking to her again and while it did not stop her tears it did allow her some composure. Her mother had even held her tight to her and smoothed down her hair, kissing her forehead as she did so.

Still, she could not take those letters back now and within a few weeks Elia and Oberyn had both descended on to Starfall with at least a hundred men, the anger that her brother and mother had forgotten was soon back at full force. She managed to smooth things over somewhat and soon Elia was attending to her, saying she would stay at Starfall until the babe was born.

The days had passed quicker than she had expected and soon her screams had filled the air and the babe was coming, their had to be no pain like it in the entire world and for a moment she truly had thought that she had been splitting apart at the seams and she truly thought that she was going to die, in a bed that would be stained with her blood. She remembered thinking that if she did die then at the very least she had returned to Starfall, if she did then she had always hoped that would die here surrounded by her family.

But all the pain was soon forgotten as a squalling babe with bright grey eyes was placed in her arms, looking up at her. Ashara had never believed that loving someone the moment that you saw them was possible but she knew at that moment that it was as her violet looked down into her daughter's grey ones, she was the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen in her entire life. Elia had said that she would grew to be just as beautiful as she was but Ashara knew that she would grow to be even more beautiful.

She spent every moment of time that she could with her babe, her sweet little Lauryn but before too long it was time to head back to King's Landing even though she truly did not wish too. She had wanted to take Lauryn with her but she knew she couldn't, the queen was not unkind but she would never allow her to keep Lauryn with her in King's Landing. She had sent one of her own ladies away before, her best friend and she would do the same to Ashara.

Ashara had cried as she kissed Lauryn goodbye before placing her in her grandmother's arms, promising to write to her as often as she was able. She turned then and walked over to the small wheelhouse, know that if she looked back that she would never leave. The queen welcomed her back warmly but she would say nothing of Ashara's absence or the reason for it nor would she tolerate it as a topic for discussion. Things almost seemed to return to normal, all that was different was that now she would write a letter to send to her daughter and then would wait for a response. Of course it was not Lauryn but her mother had who had been writing the letters to her, telling her of how well she had been growing and how much she loved her and so Ashara kept on sending the letters and for a time she had gained a sense of normality.

Until her brother had summoned her home and her prince had given her a command.

With a sigh and a shake of her head Ashara brought herself out of her memories, she could not but slip into them as of late as they tended to provoid her with more pleasant company. Elia was gone from here, a captive at Casterly Rock to hear Ned tell the tale at the Mad King's decree and Ashara could not go to her even though she was sworn to serve her. The lord of Winterfell said that he did not want to give the Lannisters any more hostages but Ashara did not a care a whit about that, all she cared about in that moment was Elia who was trapped all on her own with not a friend in sight.

She needed to see Lauryn, her babe never failed to cheer even though she was perhaps a little too big now to truly be called a babe anymore even if she would always be here baby. Ashara turned to face the door to her chambers and made her way over to them, keeping a tight grip on her blanket so that it would not fall and cause her to trip up.

Winterfell was as silent inside it's walls as it was outside as well, a grim mood had fallen on everyone inside the ancient castle and nothing could seem to be done to cheer any of them. It did not help that simply days ago the castle had been thrumming with life as thousands and thousands of men had come, answering their lord's summons. Every night there had been great feasts and proud declarations and boastings of great victories that would be won if it came to war and how they would get their lord's son's wife back where she belonged.

But almost as soon as they had arrived they all had to march back home, dark fat clouds had been spotted on the horizon and if they were still here when the snows came then they would not be marching home for weeks, maybe even months. Lord Rickard had given his bannermen leave to go, he didn't want them to freeze outside in the cold and there wasn't enough food in the stores to feed them all. Ashara hoped that they had all made it back to their homes before the clouds had opened, she couldn't imagine having to march in this cold.

The halls of Winterfell were abandoned with only the odd servant here or there, Ashara did not stop to speak with them as they would most likely be busy with some task or other and her only want at the moment was to reach the nursery.

She turned the corner at the end of hall and would've seen the door at the end of the hall that lead into the nursery if not for the fact that Catelyn Tully was standing in front of the door, walking towards her. Ashara's stomach tightened as the other woman's eyes light up at the sight of her, she had always felt awkward around the other woman as she was the one who was going to marry Brandon, the noble lady knew that Lauryn was Ashara's bastard and that had set the woman's teeth on edge but she at least had the courtesy to not say anything about it to her face but if Catelyn ever learned that Brandon was Lauryn's father then Ashara had no idea what she would do. "Good morning Catelyn, did you sleep well?"

"I did, well, as well as I could with it being so cold. I am not sure how anyone could sleep in this cold, the spring water did little to warm my room. I weep for Riverrun if I am going to be truthful, I am not made for this cold."

"You do remember that you are speaking to a Dornishwoman?" Ashara jested, trying to ease the tension that she felt in her gut and she was reward with Catelyn letting out a polite little laugh. "Is there anything that I can help you with Catelyn?" They had bonded closely enough that Ashara felt comfortable enough to simply call her by her name but that was mainly Elia's doing, not hers.

"I was coming to see you, in fact. I wondered if you had seen Brandon anywhere? I can not seem to find him and I wanted to speak to him about the wedding." Ashara was so focused on not showing any reaction to when the other woman asked of Brandon that she imagined that she must've looked like something of a simpleton, starting at the air. "Ashara?"

"Oh? Forgive me Catelyn, I was simply lost in my thoughts for a few moments." It was becoming more and more of a problem lately, that. "I am afraid that I have not seen Brandon, not since the day before this one. Have you considered going to ask Lyanna? The two of them are so close that I often thing that they are joined at the hip."

"She was the one I went to ask first but she has not seen him since breakfast when I last saw him, Benjen has not seen him either. I hope that he is well." Catelyn let out a heavy sigh and chewed at her bottom lip for a few moments. "Thank you Ashara."

"It is no trouble, Catelyn." Ashara said with a smile but the smile fell from her face as soon as the other woman had moved away from her and turned the corner that Ashara had just come from. Ashara felt terrible, she felt like a monster if she was going to be honest. She smiled at her face while planting a dagger in her back.

She had not laid with Brandon since that night at Castle Stockworth but that didn't stop her from wanting him, she still remember that day in the stable when she had been tending to Swift Ash and Brandon had cornered her, her hand brushing over one his muscular arms before he cupped her face with his hands, they had almost kissed before she had pushed him away. Before he had shown her his true colours.

Ashara walked to the door that lead into the nursery and pushed it open, stepping inside. Old Nan was slumped in her seat, for a heart stopping moment she had thought that the woman was dead but then she noticed that her chest was moving up and down and if Ashara strained her ears then she could just hear the little old woman letting out some raspy breaths in her sleep, Ashara didn't think she had ever been so relived in her entire life when she noticed that, she had grown fond of the old woman and if she died then it was a wound that she did not think that Winterfell would be able to survive at the moment.

Lauryn was sitting in the middle of the room, dressed in a tiny purple dress that matched the grey eyes that she had inherited from her grandfather and aunt and uncles and Ashara realised that she was glad of that, if her daughter had inherited her father's eyes then it was possible that Lord Rickard or Catelyn would be able to put it together, the only problem was that she wasn't certain what would be the worst outcome.

Her daughter had a carving of a wolf clasped tightly in her hands, she was waving it about instead of playing with it but she seemed happy. Her father certainly seemed amused by his antics as he smiled down at her, a similar carving of a wolf was held in his hands. He looked up when he heard the door open and smirked at her and she wanted to claw his eyes out. "Look sweetling, it's mother. Has she come to play with you?"

"What are you doing here?" She was truly trying her best to hold on to her anger, she did not want to scream or quarrel in front of her daughter but it was difficult as the man was so utterly insufferable. "Do you know that your future wife is looking for you? Perhaps I should go and tell her that you're in here, I hope that you are good at spinning lies quickly. What am I speaking off, of course you are good at telling lies as it quite easily explains the trail of shattered hearts you have left in your wake."

"Why is it that all the women I met are so very dramatic, I've never forced a woman into my bed and if they misunderstood our arrangements then that is their fault. Not mine." Brandon stood up and picked up Lauryn and Ashara wanted to slap him right there and then but she did not do that as she did not want to him risking dropping her daughter and Lauryn looked so comfortable.

"And if my future Lady wife has an issue with me being here then I will simply tell her that I have come to visit Old Nan, regardless she has no say in nothing I do. She is not my wife yet and even when she is she will have no say in what I do." Brandon said as he strode over to the crib and laid Lauryn down in it before he strode to stand in front of Ashara. "I'm not marrying her yet regardless, I told her that I don't want to marry her until Elia is back and Father, for once, has agreed with me. Most likely she just wanted to try and convince me to try and change father's mind."

"She wants to get married, I can not blame her. It is the only reason that she came here. Now, this has been lovely but I would like to be alone with my daughter." Ashara tried to walk past him but he suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her against his chest. "Let me go."

"I won't, I want you. And I don't just want you like that night at Stokeworth, I want you all the time. I want you to be my wife." Brandon began to kiss at her neck and Ashara had to bite her lip to stop herself from moaning. "Wouldn't you like to be the Lady of Winterfell, wouldn't that be quite a prize for you?"

"You'd never be the Lord of Winterfell, your father would disinherit you if you tried to marry me. You'd be the lord of nothing." That did not seem to dishearten him, if anything it only seemed to excite him more and he spun her around so she could look into his face.

"Doesn't that just sound lovely though? We could go back to Dorne together and just live, I would never have to rule anything. If your family wouldn't have us then we could go to the Free Cities and I could work as a sellsword and we could have a dozen more children if that would suit you and we could eat oranges every day, tell me that doesn't sound nice?" Brandon whispered into her ear and Ashara let out a sigh.

"You bastard."

"I know."

There lips joined together and as they kissed, Ashara cried.

End of Chapter Thirty-Two.

* * *

 **Welp, there we go again with a new chapter. I know that some of you do not like the Ashara and Brandon plotline but it is important to the rest of the story and I do need to write it, more importantly I want to write it. I should clarify something in case anyone get's confused, Ashara doesn't love Brandon more as she desires him even though she knows that she shouldn't, she's more addicted to him than anything else and can not stop herself but Brandon sees Ashara as more of a way to be free of all the burdens that would come with being the lord of Winterfell, he loves the idea of freedom and Ashara, and to a lesser extent Lauryn, represent that for him.**

 **Now, next chapter we will be going back to Casterly Rock. So, let's play a little game. Of the three POVs we've had so far who are at Casterly Rock, who do you think the next chapter will be told from? (The options are Tyrion, Jaime and Elia.)**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review, constructive criticism is always welcome and follow and favourite if you enjoyed. Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	33. Chapter 33

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Three.

The grass underneath Jaime's horse's hooves crunched loudly, the rain had been unforgiving the night before and the Sunset Sea had been wild and unforgiving the night before and Jaime had never seen it like that before in his entire life, he would not want to have been a fisherman on the sea that night. Tyrion was riding behind him on his pony, high up on his special saddle that was his own design. Jaime had to admit that despite how much he loved his brother even he had been surprised by his brother's ingenuity, even their father had been impressed at the time and while he had not smiled, he did at the very least seemed pleased which was almost as rare as their father smiling.

They rode deeper into the woods of Lannisport and further from both the city and Casterly Rock, the great stronghold of their family loomed above the city, almost looking like a lion that was about to pounce down on to the city like it was an unaware animal that was practically begging to have it's innards pulled out and chewed on. Jamie had to admit that he had never been overly found of Casterly Rock, he had always been overwhelmed by it's majesty and he had respected the history that it held not just for his family but for all of the Seven Kingdoms.

But that didn't change the fact at night it was as cold as the north and damp and air had rushed through the long corridors, the Rock was warm in Summer and Spring but during the Winter it was almost unbearable. Well, he supposed it would be unbearable if not for the fact that all he had to do was clap and a dozen servants would soon be building his fire and have him buried under a hundred blankets if that was what he wanted.

There was an unpleasant chill in the air at the moment but the rain had stopped all through there was no sign of the sun that morning, it had risen silently and unseen and was now hiding behind the thick blanket of clouds, the colour of dirty snow. Jamie would not normally have rode this far away from Casterly Rock for no reason but he needed to get away from it for a few hours, maybe even an entire day.

Ever since he and his family had returned to the Rock from King's Landing with Elia Martell chained with them, he had become a joke and the stories that the servants and knights of the Rock would not stop spreading stories about what had caused their lord and his family to come back with a Dornish princess, a married one at that. None of them were so foolish as to speak of these things too loudly or to ask any of the family or their guest, directly. Most of them could not read and some of them couldn't even remember to bathe themselves but they were well aware of how dangerous Lord Tywin was when his ire was raised and none of them wanted it directed them.

But they did not stop the stories, even if they were only told in whispers. In it's own way that almost made it much worse, he knew how to deal with a man that mocked him to his face but not one that spoke behind his back. If they were enemies, men in plate and mail and leather armed with swords and axes and maces then he would know what to do but they weren't, they were squires and kitchen maids and stable boys and cupbearers and cooks and pages and lesser lords and ladies all of whom wanted to bring their lord and his family down to their level a little, to gossip about them gave them all a little excitement in their completely predictable lives.

Jamie wanted to stab them, he wanted to stab quite a few things lately.

It wouldn't be so terrible if some of the stories he had managed to drag out from reluctant lips weren't so completely ridiculous. The most conmen one seemed to be that he had fallen in love with Princess Elia at first sight, that he could not stand the sight of her with a husband and he had decided to kill Eddard Stark by plunging his blade through his heart and the king had rewarded him for his act of passion by granting Elia to him, it may have been the most common story but it was also the most stupid one and only the true idiots in Casterly Rock were the ones to believe it.

Another story that was similar and almost as popular and only slightly less stupid was that instead of killing horsefaced Ned Stark he had instead only noticed how beautiful the Dornish princess was and his heart had swelled for pity for the lovely maid and when night had fallen on King's Landing he had scaled a tower that her cruel husband had looked her in and spirited her away from the city with the help of his father, uncle and aunt and brother.

It was nonsense, both the stories worked on the assumption that he found Elia Martell to be a great beauty and in all truth he did not. She was not hideous, to be fair. Her teeth were white and straight and her skin was unblemished but that was truly the only kind things he could say about her. Her eyes were a little too close together and they were a dull brown on top of it, her nose was a little too broad and her lips were too thin. The kindest thing he could say of her was that she was not ugly but she certainly was not a maid that was worth killing her husband for nor was she one worth scaling a tower for, the prettiest thing about her was her brown hair which was so dark it was black and fell down to her neck in the curls but even so that was not enough to call her pretty.

And she had not been a girl worth dying for either, Cersei had been. He would've died for her, he'd have killed for her if she had asked for it and oh, she had asked for it. She had wanted him to take his sword and shove it through Elia's back, to bloody his sword so she could go on with her lovely new husband without having to worry about the princess taking her prince from her.

Looking back, Jaime might actually have done that. It would've been better than this, oh he might have died to be sure and it would have thrown all the Seven Kingdoms into war but at least he wouldn't have to live with the knowledge that right now, in either King's Landing or Dragonstone, his sweet sister, his twin, his Cersei, was most likely laying underneath her dragon prince and being taken again and again and would soon bear him as many children as he demanded of her.

Even the thought of it made his sword hand twitch, it was wrong to think of it of course as Rhaegar was prince but often had he thought of shoving his blade through the Dragon prince's heart. He had dreamed about it the night before, he had shoved it all the way through his back and it had come out through the front. His blade had shined in the light and the prince's blood had looked almost back on the shining silver. He had smelt salt and smoke and heard the sound of war drums in the distance and then his blade had caught fire and the steel of his blade melted like butter in a cook pot and then the hilt had caught alit as well and though Jamie knew that he should have dropped it he wasn't able too.

The flames had taken his hand then, it burnt and was terrible and the smell was terrible and made him want to retch but he didn't, he couldn't even scream. It was as if he had been frozen but he still felt pain. He felt it so much, when the flames began to creep up his arm and burn his face, that was when he finally woke up. He had shot up in his bed, pale and sweating with the sounds of the waves crashing against the stony base of the rock, sounding too much like the war drums from his dreams for him to be able to get back to sleep and when he did close his eyes all he saw were flames.

Still, he was still tempted to do it but he knew that his sweet sister would not forgive him if he did such a thing, if not for killing her husband than for robbing her of her crown, so he had done his best to clear his mind of those thoughts. That was part of the reason he had insisted on this trip and on bringing Tyrion along with him, he wanted to get away from the Rock and he didn't want to be left on his own either, his little brother was truly the only one that he could actually talk too as he was the only one who knew. The only who knew the truth.

His father didn't hold his brother in the highest regard but Jamie thought it was a pity, Tyron was smarter than him and he saw more than most realised, it didn't take him long to figure what he and Cersei had been doing and when his brother had told him that he knew Jaime had been with his sister in a way he shouldn't have been he had been terrified of what his brother would do with the knowledge, he had been terrified that he would've told their father. If their father ever found out the truth about him and his sister than everything would be over. He didn't care much about being the Lord of Casterly Rock so he wouldn't care much at all if he was disinherited but he did care about Cersei. If their father found out then being disinherited and banished was the best that they would be able to hope for as if anyone found out than their father would probably kill them to erase the shame from their family name.

When Tyrion had told him he had been so afraid that he had become painfully aware of the dirk that had been hanging from his side, if Tyrion was going to try and tell their father than Jaime wasn't sure what he would do. He couldn't let him tell their father but the only way he could think to stop him was to slice his brother's throat open but he couldn't do that. Tyrion was his brother no matter what he knew and Jaime wouldn't become a kinslayer, he wouldn't. Cersei would've done it, she would've done it without a moment's hesitation but Jaime wasn't Cersei.

In the end it turned out that he didn't have anything to worry about and Tyrion wasn't going to tell their father, he had even asked Jaime what the point was as their father was unlikely to believe him and would probably only think that he was trying to smear Jaime and Cersei in his eyes so that he might disinherit them and then he would be in line to inherit the Rock from his father.

Jaime had wanted to tell him that there was no chance that there father would think that but he knew that what his brother was saying was the truth and he didn't think that Tyrion would fall for an obvious lie like that. The two of them had than sat down on Jaime's bed and simply talked about it, it was odd to think about it now but Jaime realised looking back that it was actually the first real conversation that ever truly had with his little brother, he had spoken to him before of course but this was the first time that Jaime had ever actually spoken to him like he was an adult, had treated him like he was his equal.

They had spoken for a long time, he couldn't remember exactly how long but he knew that Tyrion had come to speak time him when the sky had turned black and the stars had burned high above the Rock and when the had finally stopped talking it had turned to the colour of a peach and the sun was rising, despite it all Jaime had not felt tired at all, if anything he had felt more awake than he had in a very long time.

There had been some things that he and his brother had not discussed, things that Tyrion had not wanted to hear and things that Jaime had not wanted to tell him but afterwards Jaime had felt lighter, had felt better now that there was finally someone he could talk to about it. Since that talk Jaime and Tyrion had been able to confide in one another more often, had been able to trust one another and get what they both needed.

That was why Jaime had brought Tyrion out with him as his anger and his hate and his frustration and a thousand other feelings that he had no names for were bubbling under the surface and Jaime simply wanted to complain out to someone who would hear him and not run to tell his father that he was fucking his own sister, Tyrion was the only one.

When he had told his father that he planned on riding out with his brother, Tywin Lannister had not looked pleased but then he never looked pleased, he had wanted to send his captain of guards along with a dozen other guards to guard them as they rode out and Jaime had agreed to that.

The only problem was that Jaime told his father they were going to Lannisport and not out into the woods, he supposed that it was likely that poor Captain Vlyarr was still waiting for them at the Lion's Mouth, not realising that Jaime and Tyrion had slipped out through the Sunset Gate and rode along the beach and around the walled city of Lannisport and from there rode into the woods.

"Are we almost there? My legs are beginning to cramp." Tyrion's voice cut through Jaime's thoughts and he looked back at his brother to see him slightly trailing behind, Tyrion could ride a horse well enough thanks to his saddle and the horse itself was small even for a pony but riding, he knew, was not his brother's favourite activity in the world and that it was still painful for him.

"We shouldn't be far away now." At least he did not think that they were, it had been a very long time since he had been to the clearing that he was thinking off but he did think that they were close now. The last time that he had been to this clearing was when he had been younger, Jaime had been smaller than Tyrion was now and his hair had always fallen into his eyes back then due to how long it was, it had almost been as long as Cersei's.

His father had told him that it would need to get cut soon but he never did so for the longest time, simply ruffling the top of his head and laughing. Father did not laugh much even back then but he did laugh now and then, he smiled a lot more back then as well but his mother had still been alive as well. His memories of his mother were faint, he did not spend as much time with her as he should have but she had been busy with looking after Cersei with Aunt Genna while Jaime was left to be raised by his father and his uncle once he was old enough to leave the nursery.

There were something's that he could remember of her but most of it was gone, how she smiled, how she laughed, that was all gone. What he could remember wasn't enough, long golden hair that used to flow behind her like a lion's mane when the wind caught it and he remember a pair of slim arms encircling him when ever he had been cold or scared.

The clearing that Jaime was thinking of was one where he, his sister, his mother and his father used to take picnics on days where the sun shinned brighter than any piece of treasure in the Golden Gallery and the sky had been cloudless and bluer than the sea. The clearing was immense, more a small field in the middle of the forest than an actual clearing and when they did go to the clearing an entire army of servants and knights would follow them. To serve and protect their lord and his family in all things.

But as a child Jaime had barely noticed that they were there, he had been spending time with his mother and his father and his sister, why would he pay attention to anything other than them? His father had used to smile back then, most of them were for his mother and his sister and his Aunt Genna but every now and then his father would have a smile that was just for him.

Once Tyrion was born and his mother died the smiles had stopped like they had never been there. Jaime knew that his mother dying wasn't Tyrion's fault, not really, but even so he couldn't really forgive him for at least being a part of what made their father like this. He was not such a fool as to ever think that Tywin had been a kind man or even a good one but he had never been this cruel before, he remembered one time he had went into Tyrion's room deep in the bowels of the rock because he had wanted to see his baby brother.

The wet nurse had been passed out in her chair at the side of Tyrion's crib so there was nothing to stop Jaime from going right up to the crib and peering down at his brother, he had been confused when he looked down at him. Everyone had said that his mother had birthed a monster and that was what had killed her but he did not see a monster at all. The only thing in that crib was a baby, an ugly baby but a baby.

He had reached down and stroked his fingers across his brother's face gently and nearly fell over when his eyes opened, one black and one green, and he stared up at him. Jaime had been terrified that he would cry and wake up the wet nurse and she would tell his father that he had been down here even though he had forbidden either he or Cersei to come and see their brother.

But the baby hadn't cried, he had simply stared up at him with his mismatched eyes for a few moments before he closed his eyes again and went back to sleep. Jaime had tried to leave then but the door had burst open and his Father was standing in the doorway with the face of a man who was about to watch men be hanged from the gallows, His uncle Kevan had been standing behind him with a disappointed look on his face.

That night Jaime had been forced to beat his whipping boy for the first time and every time he had begged his father to let him stop but the old lion had refused him and Jaime was forced to continue until his arm ached and the poor whipping boy's back was black and blue and was bleeding, Jaime had never seen the boy again and he hoped that the boy had been sent far, far away from Casterly Rock but he supposed that it was more than possible that he had been forced to beat the boy so hard that his wounds had festered and he had died.

It wasn't until later that he had learned that Cersei had been the one to tell their father what he was doing, he had told her that he had planned to go and see their brother, he had asked her to come with him but she had refused and Jaime had not pushed it because only one person could make his sister do something that she didn't want too and that day that person and his sister had been of one mind.

He loved his sister more than anything but it was something that he had not easily forgiven her, but of course he did. He always did.

After a few more moments of riding in silence Jaime and Tyrion finally arrived in the clearing but it had changed, when Jaime had been a child the grass had been soft and green and it had smelt pleasant, now what little grass that was left, and there was not a lot of it, had turned to a sort of yellow-brown colour and it smelt of nothing. The rest of the ground was muddy and uneven with pebbles scattered about along with a few twigs. A large ditch had formed roughly in the middle of the clearing and it had been filled with rain water, making a small pound although it's water was the same colour as the grass.

"I must admit, dear brother. This is not what I was expecting when you told me of this place, it has it's charms I am sure enough of that but I think looking back I would've preferred to go to Lannisport." Tyrion quipped from behind him and Jaime had to resist the urge to knock some of his brother's teeth out, a common urge when it came to his brother he had to admit. To be true he found his brother to be very witty but most of the time he was on the other side of it, watching someone else being mocked. Having to be on the receiving end was never something that Jaime had enjoyed.

"It wasn't like this before." He muttered as he glanced around the almost bare clearing, he had no idea what could've caused this to happen and in truth it did not matter, it wasn't as if they could go back now as their father would not be gentle with them. Jaime was too old to have a whipping boy now but whatever punishment that his father would have in mind for him would not be pleasant, and for Tyrion it would be a thousand times worse, in truth he would be punished regardless for lying to him but they had already gone to the trouble of lying to him and slipping away from the guards he had assigned to them so they might as well have a bit of fun before they were dragged back to the Rock to face his judgement.

And they would be dragged back, he had no doubts about that. By now Captain Vlyarr would've gone to his father and told him that they had not presented themselves at the Lion's Mouth as they should have, his father would then launch a short search of the Rock and when he saw that they were nowhere to be found and that the Sunset gate was open then he would send out a search party for them, assuming that they had only just left the rock then they would first search for them in Lannisport and the city was not small and only when they found that they were not there would they extend the search to the woods and none of them would dare return to the Rock without them as only a fool would want to face Lord Tywin's wrath. So, they had at least a few hours before they were forced to go back.

Jaime dismounted his horse and Tyrion followed suit, the two brothers lead their horses to the treeline of the clearing that was to the north of the lake and made sure that they were secured to the trees so that they would not run off. The two horses made quite a sight when they were standing next to one another, Jaime's was a war horse, the same destrier that he had ridden in the tourney in King's Landing which had caused all of this mess while Tyrion's was a pony that had not been expected to survive very long all though it had, and while it could not run as fast as some other horses not it was it likely to be strong enough to become a plow horse but it was perfectly suitable for his brother to ride and that was truly the important thing.

Jaime retrieved a carrot from the saddle bag that hung at his horse's side and began to feed it, they would need to find a stream in the woods so that both horses could have a drink before they started back as he did not trust the ditch full of rain water and it was going to be bad enough as it was to face his father, if both horses became sick because of him then Jaime would have to shovel horse dung out of the stables for an entire moon.

Tyrion had just finished feeding his horse an apple, throwing the core over his shoulder, before he turned to face Jaime and addressed him. "So, you wanted to talk to me? What was so important that you couldn't speak to me in the Rock? Despite what it may seem at times, Father isn't always looming over our shoulders. He has his spies that can do that for him."

"There are some things that I need to speak to you about." Jamie muttered as he began to unpack the rest of his saddlebags, for a regular horse he was sure that the load would be almost too much to bear however his destrier had been breed, trained and was used to carrying a man on his back that would more often than not be dressed in full armour with at least a lance in his hands, the horse could handle a few bags worth of supplies.

He had brought some food in case they weren't able to catch anything but he did not expect that to happen, he hoped that it didn't as the food he had brought was not exactly the most appetising of fare as he had to grab it from the kitchens quickly, a few hard biscuits that he assumed had been baked the day before, a few bunches of red grapes that the cook had gotten from the Reach, a loaf of bread that had just been baked that morning and Jaime had nearly burnt his hand when he had picked it up, a large wedge of cheese that he didn't want to think about how long it had been waiting in the larders, a pat of butter which had been rolled in salt and wrapped in brown paper and a few apples.

They would not starve but Jaime had wanted them to catch their own dinner, to that end he had brought with him a spear about six feet in length which he could use to get fish from out of the river and a long bow which he could use to hit the deer and boar and whatever else that would call the woods home. In truth he was never a great shot with a bow, he could hit a target if it was in front of him but he was as like to hit a man in armour charging at him in the chest as he was to hit him in the eye. He wasn't overly fond of the spear either but it was better to use that to try and catch fish than it was to use his sword or his hands.

He had also brought an axe with him but he hadn't planned on using that to kill anything, not unless he counted trees. They would need firewood after all, he finally took a soft blanket that was similar to the ones that they had always used to use to lay on the grass when mother was still alive, Jaime unfolded the blanket on the uneven ground, placed the food atop it, and then started to look for any wood that could be chopped.

It was unlikely that he would be able to find any dry wood as it would all be wet from the storm from the night before but Jaime hoped that he might be able to at least find some twigs and logs that might have been sheltered from the worst of it, if not then he had brought some small wooden logs from Casterly Rock that would've been used as wood to burn in the heaths that he could use to build a fire instead.

He eventually found several sticks that looked like they could still burn but there wasn't enough to build a fire so he would have to resort to chopping the logs, thankfully near the edge of the clearing there was a stump of a tree that had been cut clean down which he could use to rest the logs on. He rested the first of the logs on top of the stump and raised his axe high and with a heavy swing downward split the log clean in half.

Tyrion wandered over to him after he had finished feeding his horse and hopped on to the fallen and rotted remains of a tree trunk to watch as Jaime continued to cut the logs as easily as a hot knife would cut through butter. "Be honest with me brother, the only reason you brought me out here was so that you could show off your wood cutting skills. They are quite impressive I must admit but I think that I would much rather be in my own room right now, curled under my furs with a book as a fire blazed in my heath. Speaking of which you do realise that as soon as father realises that you took that wood he is going to make us go without fires for the rest of winter? Well, he'll make me go without a fire at any rate. He wouldn't want to risk you getting sick after all."

"Well, if Father does that you will just need to know how to chop your own firewood, you could learn right now if you wanted too." Jaime said as he stopped cutting the wood and stood at his full height, handing out the axe for his brother to take. "It's a useful skill to have, even knights need to know how to build a fire, so they can cook and stay warm. Not all knights have a squire after all. You're big enough to hold an axe, why don't you have a go?"

"I'm never going to be a knight, do I truly have to point that out to you?" Tyrion said as he hoped off of the rotten tree trunk and took the axe from his brother's hands regardless of his quips. He tested how it felt in his hands and took a few swings before he let out a sigh and handed it back to Jaime. "The truth is, I am nothing like you. I will never need to make my own fire or chop my own wood, I won't be a knight and father won't let me leave the Rock without supervision, less I bring shame on to the name of House Lannister. So, thank you but no."

Jaime took the axe back with a sigh but he did not press his brother on the matter, as much as they disagreed and were as different as night was to the day the one thing that his brother and his sister had in common was that they were both as stubborn as mules. Not that he would ever admit such a thing to either of them as of course Cersei would slap him for even suggesting that she was in anyway similar to their brother and Tyrion would not look well on it either.

He decided not to push it and so resumed cutting the firewood, the clearing was filled with silence aside from the sound of the wood being split by his axe and the sound of the wind blowing around them. Soon enough Jaime had all the firewood that they would need and so, resting the axe against the stump as he realised that he would no longer need it, and began to assemble the fire.

As he was building it, Tyrion spoke up. "Now that I think about it, I must admit that I actually am glad to be away from the Rock. My tower is quite charming, and sometimes on blessed days it is able to keep the rain out, but I admit I grew lonely. The only company that I can comfortably walk to see is poor Cousin Orson and all the other rejects and shames of House Lannister."

"Princess Elia's rooms are quite close to your tower, she seemed quite enamoured with you when you were a baby." It had been a long time since he had thought on the visit of the Martells but it had never been a pleasant memory, he had liked the Martells well enough to be certain but Cersei hadn't and when ever Cersei wasn't happy, Jaime wasn't happy.

It wasn't until later why he had learn why she had been so upset with them being there, their mother and Elia's mother had been planning for them to wed. Jaime's father had put an end to it soon enough, saying that the Martells were too far away to be of any help should they have need of their spears to crush any revolts and Dorne was one of the poorest realms in all of the Seven Kingdoms and they had no resources that would be of any use to them, his father had put an end to the matter by saying that he wouldn't have his son and heir marry a sickly Dornish girl who was just as like to die before she reached child bearing age or marry his daughter to a Dornish prince when she should be a queen just because of a childish friendship that his wife and the princess had formed.

From what Jaime could remember that was only one of a few times that his mother and his father had ever disagreed with one another, it was at least the only time that he could remember that they had argued in front of him and Cersei at the very least. It had not ended well, his mother had slapped his father and taken him and Cersei out of the room and locked them all into her chambers, Jaime hadn't seen his father then for close to a week before guards broke down the door and they took her to speak to his father, he didn't know what happened after only that they didn't fight in front of them again.

But the Martells had still been invited to come and Father could not turn them away, even after Mother had died a few months before they had arrived.

It suddenly occurred to Jaime that he had never told Tyrion this story and yet he didn't seem at all surprised that he had mentioned that Princess Elia had met him as a baby, he looked up at his brother but he was glancing down at the ground and only looked up when he felt Jaime's eyes on him. "What?" He asked before realisation dawned on him. "Oh, yes. Princess Elia told me about this little story on her first night here, I must admit that it was quite a touching little story. I knew that the Martells had come of course but not about coming to see me, why did you never tell me?"

"I didn't see the point of telling you, they didn't come to see you. They came to see the monster of Casterly Rock." And that was the truth, at least a part of it. When Jaime had heard that they had wanted to see his new brother he had been happy, so very few people wanted to see his little brother other than him. Aunt Genna had sometimes come down deep into the Rock to see him but that wasn't so very often and more often than not she only stayed for a few moments, let out a sigh and left the room, telling Jaime that he shouldn't stay down here much longer as his father would be angry with him if he knew.

She still never told him.

When he found out that they just wanted to see if he was really a monster he had wanted to spit on the both of them and leave them too their wondering but Cersei had smiled brightly at them and was more than happy to show the monster off, they didn't take them to see Tyrion until near the end of their visit and every day before that Jaime had tried his hardest to convince his sister to not do it but she would not be swayed no matter what he said, when Cersei had her mind set on something nothing could be done or said to get her away from it. Their father had promised her that she would be queen after all and nothing would change that for her, she would burn all Seven Kingdoms to cinders if she could be the queen of the ashes.

She wouldn't burn him, never him.

He had been quiet when Cersei had lead both the Martells down into the bowels of the Rock, he didn't speak to either of them as they asked questions about what the monster was like and Cersei didn't tell them anything more than she wanted them to know. Tyrion was crying in the darkness and Jaime's heart broke for his little brother, he knew his cries well enough to know that he wasn't hungry, that wasn't the problem. It was just the wailing of a babe that was deeply upset and they had followed those cries to him. When they entered Tyrion's nursery the wetnurse had been awake and Jaime had hoped that would be the end of it, that she would send them away.

Of course it hadn't been, the wetnurse had tried of course but Cersei wouldn't hear of it and with a few words had the older woman running from the room with tears rolling down her face, Jaime imagined that she had gone to tell his father about what they were doing but at the time he didn't have the time to think about that as Cersei and the Martells were already walking over to the crib.

Cersei had reached down to pull the blanket away and for a moment Jaime could remember thinking about reaching out to grab her wrist to stop her but by the time the thought had crossed his mind she had already pulled it away. Jaime had waited for the screams to start, the cries of revulsion and disgust. He had wondered if the Princess would've run out of the room at the sight of his brother, or maybe she would've been sick instead. Jaime had heard that the girl had a sickly constitution and he had seen at dinners and feasts that she would often only eat a few bits in between rough coughs and sometimes even had to be taken away from the table by her mother.

But neither of those things happened, the Dornish girl stepped closed to the crib and looked down at the babe lying with in and her eyes had grown wide and a smile had grown on her lips and a soft coo escaped from her mouth, almost as if there had been a puppy in the crib and not an ill formed babe. Oberyn had not had the reaction Jaime had been expecting either, he only scoffed and said that he had wanted to see a monster, not a baby.

Jaime could have hugged him for that.

Cersei, on the other hand, had not been happy with their lack of reaction. She had called Tyrion a monster and started to pinch him, Jaime had never heard a baby scream before that, he had heard them cry loudly enough that you might consider it a scream but it was a world different to hearing a babe actually scream. Elia tried to make her stop, begging her too but Jaime had gotten to her first and told her to stop it, to not touch him again.

Cersei had pulled out of his grasp and stormed out of the room before anyone could stop her, Jaime normally hated to see her upset. He hated even more to be the cause of why she was upset but at that moment he didn't truly care, all he cared about was making sure that his brother alright. He had turned to check on him only to find that Elia had picked Tyrion up out of the crib and had already been soothing him.

After a few moments Elia had him calm again and pressed a kiss to his forehead before she had put him back down into the crib. She turned to look at Jaime and had smiled at him. "I am sure that your sister didn't mean to hurt him, she was most likely just tired."

He knew that wasn't true, in fact he was certain that before that Cersei had been hurting their brother when ever someone wasn't around to stop her. He hadn't told her that of course, not that he had the time to as the door then burst open and his father was standing there with a grim look in his eyes and all the memories Jaime had of what happened the last time his father had found him in Tyrion's room came flooding back to him.

Tyrion coughing brought him out of his memories. "Are you well? You seemed to be very far away." Jaime nodded and returned to building the fire. "And I know they wanted to see the monster, she told me that was all they asked for while they were staying here. But that isn't the point, she told me what Cersei did to me and that you stopped her. So, again I ask, why didn't you tell me?"

Jaime sighed and didn't bother to look up at Tyrion as he spoke, if he kept focused on the fire pit then everything would be fine. "I don't know, I suppouse I didn't want you to know that Cersei-"

"Hurt me? Hates me?" Tyrion asked, interrupting him before letting out a bitter chuckle. "Dear brother, I am afraid that I have known about that second thing for a very long time and I remember plenty of times that Cersei has hurt me, it was not much of a revelation to me." Despite his brother's words when Jaime looked up he was certain that he saw tears in his eyes, when Tyrion saw him looking he turned his head. "But you protected me, defended me. Just like you always do."

"I am your brother Tyrion, that's what I am supposed to do." Jaime, despite what his father and sister might think, didn't put much stock in being oversentimental. He only spoke the truth, it was his duty to look after Tyrion and it had been his duty since the moment his little brother had been born. "I love Cersei, you know that I do but...you're my baby brother, I wasn't going to let her hurt you."

Tyrion jumped off of the rotted trunk and walked over to Jaime and threw his arms around his neck, Jaime had to admit that he was surprised as he and his brother had never been over affectionate but he didn't begrudge him this moment and so he wrapped his arms around his little brother in return and held him tight. After a few moments he patted his brother on the back and pulled away and returned to building the fire.

The wood was built up well enough and Jaime found a rock which he struck with his dirk, creating sparks which fell down to the leaves and the wood and with two more strikes from the dirk the sparks finally caught something, a thin finger of smoke rising up into the air and soon the rest of the leaves and the wood caught, a fire was blazing in moments.

Tyrion took of his doe skin gloves and rubbed his hands close to the fire, sighing in pleasure as he was warmed. Tyrion turned and walked back to his donkey and came back with a skin of wine and a pair of cups, he filled one up and handed it to Jaime before he poured himself one and sat down next to the fire. "Well, I will admit that I find this to be more pleasant then I would've hoped, I would still prefer a book to read I think. I was in the middle of reading about the Conquest of Aegon and his sisters."

"This is much better." Jaime said as he took a sip of his wine, it had been spiced with cloves and honey and it warmed him from the inside as much as the fire did on the outside and what was once a sip became a gulp. "You don't have to worry about father finding out that you have a skin of wine for example, how did you get that?"

"I had a maid go and get it for me, you would be surprised how often that simply saying I am the son of their lord gets me what I want. Father maybe a cruel bastard, but at least he has some use." Tyrion drank deep from his cup and let out a sigh. "At any rate, that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about. How are you doing at the moment? I imagine that must be difficult."

"I'm fine, I'm just glad to be away from the Rock. To be away from all those fools." Jaime muttered before he took a sip of his wine, he stared down at the red liquid in his cup before he looked up to meet his brother's eyes. "How is Princess Elia? I haven't spoken to her since the night we came back to the Rock."

Tyrion was quiet for a few moments, as if he needed to think before he finally spoke. "She's very upset, she won't say so of course. She hides behind her courtesies like they are more effective armour than heavy plate but it doesn't change the fact that she is upset, anyone with eyes and ears and with the sense to use them can see that."

"To be fair, can you truly blame her? I am the best thing she has for company, and I can't be much of a comfort as I am. Aunt Dorna comes to see her as well but all she does is talks to her about the seven and what a comfort that can be in trying times. I love Aunt Dorna, you know that I do but I can't tell you how many times I want her to shut up. Aside from us all she has is Orson, and his range of conversation topics is rather limited, and Clara and Elia knows that she is a spy for father, or for Aunt Genna, I don't suppose it really matters."

"The problem is she's about to burst, a moon or two at the most and she's going to be giving birth to her child in a place she doesn't know and surrounded by strangers? How happy would you be?" Tyrion sighed and finished off the wine in his cup before he refilled it up to the rim and took a deep drink of it, that seemed to give him a bit of course as he looked up to met Jaime's eyes. "Why did you do it? Actually, I suppose I know why you did it. The same reason that you truly do anything, Cersei asked it of you. Our dear Aunt Genna was right, I just don't understand why you would do something so reckless. Even for her."

"It was better than the alternative." Jaime muttered as he finished off his own wine and held out his cup for Tyrion to refill, and it was a lot better than the alternative. Yes, Princess Elia might be miserable and Jaime wasn't entirely happy either but as he didn't have to kill Elia as Cersei had wanted and that had not lead to war with the North and Dorne so he could live with not being happy, and so could Elia. He had thought that Dornish women were supposed to be fierce, she didn't seem very fierce to him, kind, yes he had seen that when they were both young but not fierce.

All though, she had been the only one brave enough to speak up to the Mad King when he had commanded that her marriage to Eddard Stark be broken and she was to be betrothed to him. Maybe she was braver than any of them. Not that it had changed much of course, the King had still forced them apart even if he didn't officially have the power to break apart their marriage. The only thing that even came close to resembling a silver lining was that the King could not officially end the marriage and that meant that they couldn't be forced to marry one another.

Jaime was glad of that more than anything, he certainly didn't want to marry her and he certainly didn't want to have to be shackled with her child when it finally sloped out of her. In truth Jaime honestly did not think that he would be any good at being a father, his own father had not proved to be a great example on to him. He had raised him, to be fair, had taught him how to be strong and how to handle anything that might be thrown at him and how to deal with any enemies. But Jaime did not love him, he couldn't.

"Was it truly? I admit that I am a wretched little imp so perhaps I simply do not understand but I can not see why this is better. This will have angered Dorne and The North regardless, I would bet all the gold in Casterly Rock and all the mines in the Westerlands that the Starks and the Martells are already raising armies to get her back, I didn't spend long in King's Landing but at the tourney Ned Stark seemed quite fond of his wife. I don't think he will be content to wait for her to be returned." Tyrion muttered as he stared down at his wine, swirling it in his cup. "And what about her brothers? Prince Doran is meant to be a paitent man from what I hear, or a craven one depending on who you ask. He might not launch an attack on us, not an obvious one at any rate. But what about her younger brother? They call him the Red Viper don't they? And from what little I've been able to chisel out of Elia she was quite close to him, only a year between them it seems. Do you honestly expect for him to do nothing?" Tyrion asked with a raised eyebrow. "And you are the reason we are all in this mess, I know you love our sister Jaime but honestly, is fucking your own reflection worth everything you might have cost us?"

Jaime jumped up from where he was standing, causing the cup of wine he was holding to fall to the ground and cause the wine to spill out and soak into the muddy ground below. Tyrion looked up at him with his mismatched eyes growing wide, Jaime saw the terror in them right enough but he saw something else as well, a grim sort of acceptance. For a moment there his little brother that he had always sworn to protect and love even if everyone else hated him though that Jaime was going to kill him.

That moment seemed to last for an eternity but like everything it did finally end, Jaime let out a snarl and stormed past his brother with his head so full that it felt it was going to split open with the force of it all. He stormed over to his horse, even the great beast seemed to be unnerved by him but Jaime paid that no mind. He reached into one of it's saddled bags and brought out a quiver full of arrows and then turned on his feet and walked back to where he had left the bow and the spear and picked both of them up, it was a little cumbersome to carry them both but he made do.

Jaime began to walk into the forest, Tyrion called out after him but Jaime ignored him and soon enough his voice faded away. Jaime had explored these woods a lot when he was a child, true had always had a guard or two following him to ensure that he had stayed safe but he had learned them well enough to know that he would be able to find his way back to the clearing without a great deal of difficulty.

He shouldn't have brought Tyrion with him, he knew that now. He might know and understand more than the rest of his family but that didn't mean that he understood, that he could understand. He should've just come here alone, should've told no one where he was going and just return back to the Rock when he felt like it.

Maybe he wouldn't even do that, maybe he would just keep wondering until he got lost. He could shave his head and grow a beard, find a town near the sea and go across to the free cities and become a sellsword. He couldn't of course, wherever he went his father would send men after him and drag him back home, there was little and less he could do to change that.

After a few minutes of walking he found himself next to a stream and sat down next to it, placing the spear and the bow to the side of him. He reached into the river and splashed the water into his face, shutting his eyes as he did so. Jaime didn't open them after that, he simply listened in the darkness. The world was quiet here, if only it could have always been like that.

But even as all the noise faded away something else replaced, a scent. It was thick and sweet but unpleasantly sour, as if someone had forced him to eat apple tarts until he was sick and he was now smelling the waste. Jaime snapped open his eyes and reached for his sword without even truly having to think about it, it was simple instinct.

He knew that smell.

Jaime got to his feet and picked up the bow, slinging it over his shoulder but left the spear where it lay. He didn't like the idea of leaving it but he wouldn't be able to hold it comfortably and even if he could he had never gotten used to the idea of using two weapons at once, he unsheathed his sword, castle forged steel which only the finest Lannister smiths could make, and began to follow the scent.

It did not take him long to find out what was making it.

It had been a doe but now there was little left of it, the creature was on it's side and an arrow had pierced it's throat. The fur had been skinned off and great cuts of meat had been cut away, leaving only blood stained bone. It's head had been cleaned of it's skin and crows had been pecking at it's eyes and flies were buzzing all around it, all in all it made for an unpleasant sight and Jaime wouldn't deny that the sight of it caused his stomach to turn slightly but at the same time the sight did comfort him a little.

It was just the remains of some hunters, that was all. There was nothing wrong, in the middle of the woods there were always hunters about finding what game that they could. He slid the sword back into it's scabbard and let out a small sigh of relief.

That when the shouts filled the air, Jaime spun and turned around to look back from the way he had come. The voices had come from the clearing.

 _Tyrion._

Jamie didn't think, he just ran. He ran as fast as he could back the way he came, running past the stream and only barely noticing that the spear he had left was now gone and ran towards the clearing, he began to slow as he approached and hide behind a tree which gave him a decent view of the clearing and what he saw terrified him.

Tyrion's pony was dead, an arrow through it's throat and Jaime's destrier was bucking and screaming and trying to break free of it's bonds. It made sense to Jaime that they would kill Tyrion's pony and leave Jaime's horse alone as even someone with little experience with horses would've been able to see that Jaime's was worth more than a regular pony.

There were four men in the clearing alongside his little brother, the closest one had his back to Jaime and held a bow with an arrow ready to loose if he needed to do so, nearest to him was a bald man with no hair but with a bushy blond beard and a scar running from the dome of his head right down to the bottom of his right cheek, it was an ugly thing, pink and puckered.

He held a grey iron sword that looked it had been dulled somewhat by use but was still sharp enough to cut, next to him stood a youngish looking man, looking closer to Jaime in age then he was too any of his friends, with green eyes and red hair the looked to almost be as long as Cersei's. He held a spear that looked far too familiar and Jaime kicked him for leaving it, that might have just gotten them both killed.

The fourth man was the one closest to Tyrion and Jaime could make nothing out about him due to the fact that his back was raised and he wore a cloak with a hood which he used to cover his head. The one thing that Jaime could see was that he had a sword but this was steel, castle forged and sharp enough to cut an imp's head from his neck.

Jaime had to move.

"Well then, what's a dwarf doing out here all alone? These woods can be dangerous, don't you know that? Mind you, maybe you aren't alone." The man lower his sword so that it was only an inch away from Tyrion's nose and it took all Jaime had not to unsheathe his sword there and then and run right into the middle of it. "I can't think of any reason why a little man like you would need two horses, especially one that's that big. So, how about it dwarf? Where's your friend?"

"I'm alone." Tyrion lied as Jaime unsheathed his sword and began to creep over to the man holding the bow, trying his hardest not to make any noise. "I'm just rather greedy when it comes to horses, I admit it. I couldn't choose between them, I suppose your charming friend rather freed me of the burden, do be sure to thank me for him. Now, if none of you mind I will just be on my way."

Tyrion tried to walk off but the man in front of him pressed the point of the sword into his cheek and Tyrion cried out in pain as blood began to well around the metal and then run down his face as the sword was pulled away. "They say that there is no funnier man than a dwarf, has to learn to laugh otherwise it'll just cry all the time. You seem quite funny to me, I like that. What I don't like, is liars. There was this girl I used to fuck now and then, she came from the summer islands and had the biggest tits that I had ever seen in my entire life. I had the biggest cock that she'd even seen, we got along great. Then, one day I found out that she was fucking my brother. I didn't mind that, it wasn't like I loved her. What I did mind, was that the both of them lied to me about it. So, one night I waited for them to meet in this little cabin, an abandoned thing outside of our village where I used to take her. When they were both inside I moved these wooden barrels in front of the door and set the cabin on fire. It was actually nice, the screams weren't."

Tyrion had gone pale and that only made the red running down his face stand out more, the man laughed and it seemed to make his entire body shake. "Sorry, I know it isn't that funny but you know what? This was years ago, I was a young man then. And do you know what? I am still here! I haven't been turned into a rat, I haven't been stricken by lightning, the septons and the septas like to talk about how wrong kinslaying is but I've never been punished for it, isn't that funny?"

"Hilarious, you should go across the Narrow Sea and become a mummer. They would rain gold upon you, I am sure enough of that." Jaime really just wanted his brother to shut up, they would have his tongue out if he wasn't careful. Jaime was almost in reach of the archer but not quite enough, if he walked like he would normally then he would be able to reach him right there and then but he couldn't risk the noise, an arrow through the throat was a terrible was to die. To drown in your own blood.

He had seen a man die like then when he had still just been a squire for Lord Crakehall, it had been during the battles against the Kingswood Brotherhood and he had been little more than a boy. He had been bright and ready, war had been just one grand adventure to him and he was going into war with the heroes of his childhood, Barristan the Bold and The Sword of The Morning and they would crush the outlaws easily.

He had been foolish, a foolish little boy who didn't know any better. Lord Crakehall had been tasked with leading a scouting party, Jaime had been with him along with his other squire, a Frey boy though Jaime could not remember his name though he would bet gold that it was Walder or something similar to it, that family certainly lacked for originality. It had been a beautiful day, the sun had been high in the sky and the sky was clear. Just the sort of day for the brave knights to go and slay the fiendish outlaws.

And then the arrows had flown.

When ever anyone spoke of Wenda the White Fawn they always spoke of how beautiful she was, how tall and fair and graceful with a voice that could make even the hardest of men weep. No one seemed to mention that she was an utterly ruthless bitch and lethal with a bow and killed dozens of men while laughing about it, she was as much a monster as the Smiling Knight had been but no one wanted to think that a woman could be that cruel, or that a women would be able to terrify them as much as she had done.

It was because of her that she had seen his first man die, he couldn't remember his name, Jaime didn't even think that he knew it all he knew was that he had been a knight and had been in service to Lord Crakehill and one moment he had been riding alongside them and the next there was an arrow in his throat and he was making noises that reminded him of the time that Aunt Genna had nearly chocked on a fishbone. He remembered thinking that it would've been funny if it wasn't the worst thing he had ever seen in his entire life, at least at that point.

And now that might happen to him, he finally managed to get behind the archer and stood up as slowly as he could to make as little noise as possible. Once he was at his full height behind the archer he quickly clasped his free hand over the archer's mouth and shoved his sword through his heart, he made a grunt but Jaime's hand covered that up and he thankfully managed to quickly disarm him before he fired off an arrow in his death throes.

None of the men seemed to have noticed and if Jaime believed in the gods then he might have thanked them. "I don't know about this one Ed." The red-haired man holding Jaime's spear muttered as he stared at Tyrion. "Look at those clothes, the gloves. He might be some High Lord's bastard, do we really need the trouble?"

"I don't normally agree with Rusty but I think this time he might be right." The man with the scar muttered, he stepped forward to get a closer look at his brother and the one he called Rusty followed after him, Jaime frowned as if Rusty had stayed where he was then he could've surprised him and taken back his spear which he could've thrown and dealt with one of the men before he used his sword to deal with the last one but now they were too close together. If he tried to stab one in the back then the other two would see him and kill him before he could pull the sword out of the one he stabbed's back. He wasn't sure what to do.

"Gods." Scar breathed as he stared into Tyrion's mismatched eyes. "I think...I think this is the Imp."

"We can all see that he's a dwarf." Rusty said with a laugh and Tyrion glared at him.

"No, I mean it's the Imp. Lord Tywin's imp." Scar said with a chuckle of disbelief and fear. "I'm right, aren't I? You are a Lannister."

"I am and I am starting to think that you are beginning to grasp the gravity of the situation." Tyrion said and suddenly there was a grin on his face and he laughed. "You know who my father is, do you think it wise to hurt one of his sons."

"Ed, he's right. My pa used to serve old Lord Reyne and when the rose up against him he slaughtered them all, my pa only just got away from it and he wouldn't show his face where anyone could see it ever again." Scar stepped back and Jaime couldn't be sure but he looked like he was shaking. "We should just let this one go on his way, his friend will be back son and if we rob a son of the Old Lion, there will be nowhere to hide!"

"Your friend's right!" Jaime called out, choosing that moment to make his move. Rusty jumped back and turned to face him with the spear held in his shaking hands, Scar took one look at him and cursed but held his sword firmly and Ed simply looked at him for a few moments before he let out a little scoff. "If you know who he is then I think you can make a guess about who I am, your smarter than most brigands I'll give you that much. Harm either of us and nothing will save you from what comes later."

Rusty and Scar looked at one another but didn't say anything but Ed simply kept looking at Jaime, his face a blank mask. The mask slipped a little when he saw that the archer was dead and he raised his sword and pointed it at Jaime. "Quite a big speech, from a little boy with a sword that looks like he barely knows how to use it. I could hold you to ransom, or maybe I could take your brother here. Old Lord Tywin would probably pay us to keep him away."

"He might." Jaime admitted and he couldn't stop himself from smirking and letting out a little chuckle and he couldn't deny that a part of him delighted at the looks of confusion on their faces. "Shame he ran off into the forest while you were talking to me."

Ed's eyes widened and he and his friends turned to look around to see that Tyrion had in fact gone, he had gone the moment his captors had turned away from him. When Ed turned back around he roared and held up his sword. "Kill him!"

"Ed, he's-

"I said kill him!"

And that was that, the battle was on. Scar came first and swung his sword at him which Jaime effortlessly blocked, Scar was big and ugly but he didn't have and true skill and he used his sword like a butcher would use a meat cleaver, he had no true skill and it was easy for Jaime to block all the blows that the ugly man attempted to land on him.

The problem became when the red haired man entered the fray, he had clearly never used a spear before in his life and that was more than obvious due to his form but unfortunately he wasn't an idiot. He knew that the weapon he had was at it's most basic a long stick with a blade on it so he didn't try to get in close, he just tried to stab at Jaime from far away and most times wasn't even trying to hit him, he was just trying to knock him off his balance so that Scar could move in for the kill.

And then finally there was Ed, he didn't just have the finest sword he also had the skill to use it, he had to have been trained as a master-at-arms as Jaime could barely keep up with him, he was a challenge. Jaime had once held off the Smiling Knight but that was different, the Smiling Knight may have had armour and a fine sword but he had also only been one man, and Jaime had not even beaten him, just was able to hold him for as long as he could until Ser Arthur Dayne had come to finish him off.

This was different, Jaime was outnumbered and wasn't wearing any armour and hadn't been expecting to fight, if he managed to survive this then he might just consider wearing his armour for the rest of his days.

Suddenly, there was an opening as Ed and Rusty tried to get behind him and Scar lifted up his sword to swing down at Jaime, Jaime dodged to the side as it came down and with a quick slash cut into the ugly man's middle, opening him up and having blood and guts spill out on to the ground of the clearing, the big man fell to the ground and tried to hold his guts in as he wailed for his mother but Jaime didn't have time to focus on that as he spun around and brought up his blade to block Ed's next swing and then had to jump backwards to dodge Rusty's spear piercing his guts.

His father's guards couldn't be far away now, they had to be coming looking for them and when they found Tyrion he would lead them to the clearing. Tyrion wouldn't abandon him, they had a disagreement and Jaime had stormed off, his brother wouldn't abandon him. He wouldn't.

It seemed that the lost of two of his men had unnerved Ed as he was now forgetting and simply hacking at him, his skin turning red and sweat beading down his neck and soon Jaime was block his blows with as much ease as he had with Scar, soon the man was tired and slowing down and with a graceful swing he removed the man's head from his shoulders, his body crashing down after him.

Jaime would've savoured the victory if he could but it was not over yet, Rusty had come close to him and jabbed at him with his spear and while Jaime tried to jump out of the way that time he had been to slow and the blade of the spear cut into his arm and with a cry of pain Jaime dropped his sword and stumbled back, tripping over a root as he did so and falling down next to the stump.

Jaime tried to push himself back up but before he could Rusty was there, the man had hate in his eyes. He wanted Jaime dead, any fear he had about Jaime's father looking for him afterwards had abandoned him in the bloodlust and he pulled the spear back and shoved it into Jaime's shoulder. Jaime had never felt any pain like it, it burned and for a few moments he honestly thought that he was going to be sick, or he was going to pass out.

It was worse when the man pulled the spear out, Jaime couldn't hold back the scream that time as he looked at the gaping mess that had once been his shoulder, blood running down from the open wound like it was a river. Jaime didn't have much time to focus on that however as soon enough the man was in front of him with the spear only an inch away from his eye.

Jaime tried to reached for his sword but even the slightest movement in his arm caused it to burn with pain and Rusty laughed at him before he drew back the spear but before he could shove it through Jaime's head he let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground, clutching at his leg where a deep and jagged slash had been made into the skin.

Tyrion was standing over him with the axe clutched in his arms, his eyes wide as he watched the blood drip off the front of blade. When he saw that Rusty was going for the spear he did not hesitate, he drew back the axe and with a yell buried it straight into the man's face. Rusty let out a sound that sounded like a mix of a squeal, a scream and a groan as the spear slipped from his nerveless fingers and then fell backwards with the axe still firmly buried into his face.

"I killed him." Tyrion breathed as he stared down at the younger man, as through he could not really see him. This was the first time that his brother had ever killed someone and even Jaime didn't know how to feel about that. "I didn't mean to, he was going to kill you. I just-"

"Tyrion, listen to me." Jaime said with a grimace as he tried his best to hide his pain and used his uninjured arm to pull his little brother close to him into a one armed hug. "He was going to kill me, you didn't have a choice. He could've stayed down but he still wanted to try, you saved us."

"Does it ever get any easier?" Tyrion asked as he buried his head into Jaime's chest and shut his eyes and perhaps it was just because of his small stature but it was hard for Jaime to ever think of him as anything more than that little boy that he used to shower toys on even thought he knew that wasn't fair and his brother had not been a little boy for a very long time.

"You get used to it." That was all that Jaime could say, there were men that enjoyed killing, he knew that well enough but he had never been one of them. But after a while there was only so much blood that you could spill before you got used to look without seeing. With a bit of luck Tyrion would never have to get that far. "I'm sorry that I left you, I shouldn't have."

"It was my fault, and this isn't your fault. I shouldn't judge you for the actions of a mad man." Tyrion glanced around at the bodies in the clearing before looking back up into Jaime's face. "Can we go back to the Rock now? I think we should get that shoulder looked at."

"All right, can you help me up?" Jaime asked as Tyrion stood up and Jaime took his hand when his brother offered it to him, the problem was with his brother being so small it meant that he couldn't really pull him up so Jaime had to lean against him and use his shoulders to push himself up. The movement caused his wound to scream in protest and Jaime had to grit his teeth to stop from screaming, he had never felt anything like it.

They began to slowly walk back over to where Jaime's horse was tied and Jaime could tell that the creature was still terrified though it was no longer thrashing around, with Tyrion's pony dead they would both have to ride back on his horse which wouldn't normally be a problem as the horse was large enough to carry both of them but it was spooked and Jaime wasn't sure how it would react to having to be saddled with a second saddle and carry two riders home.

Still, they didn't have a choice. They could not walk it as by the time they got back to Casterly Rock then Jaime's would have already started to fester and there would be little that the Maester would be able to do for him then, he would be lucky if all that happened was that he lost his arm, in the infection settled into his blood then he would be a dead man. Though if he lost his sword arm anyway then he might as well be dead.

Tyrion had knelt down next to his pony and was trying to take the saddle off of it's body, Jaime would have offered to help but every time he tried to move his arm it felt like someone was cutting into his arm with a knife and he could barely move the fingers of his hand without at least causing a twinge in his shoulder. Still, it seemed as though Tyrion did not need him as soon enough he had the saddle unstrapped from the back of his pony's back and stood up with it in his hands, all though it was clearly a little too big for him to hold.

It suddenly occurred to Jaime that he wasn't sure how they were going to get the saddle on to the horse, in fact with his arm the way it was he wasn't even sure how he was going to climb on to it. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to help Tyrion up and then send him back, he would come across their father's guards surely and he could lead them here.

It seemed as if he would be spared an argument, and Tyrion would argue as he would not leave him alone, as soon enough there was the sound of galloping hooves filling the air and soon enough men on horse back dressed in crimson and gold armour appeared at the edge of the clearing. Vlyarr urged his horse forward and looked down at Jaime and Tyrion from atop his horse. "My lords, forgive me for being blunt but what did you think that you were playing at? Your father is not pleased."

Jaime might have laughed at the look on the man's face if he wasn't in the worst agony of his life. "Just needed a breath of air Captain, that's all. Things did go ever so slightly awry. I would love to tell you more about it but as you can see my shoulder is rather split open at the moment, is there any chance we could save the questions for my father to ask?"

"As you say my lord." And that was the end of any conversation, the men helped Jaime and Tyrion on to the horse and they began to ride away from the clearing. As they left the woods and Jaime spied Casterly Rock a feeling of dread settled into his gut, he wasn't sure if it was because of how he realised how far away the Rock actually was and that by the time they got there his wound would most likely start to be infected or because he was terrified of facing his father.

At any rate they made it back to the Rock soon enough, though Jaime's wound was starting to feel hot and swollen and he was beginning to feel light headed. They rode through the Lion's Mouth this time and all the Rock seemed to come out to witness Jaime's shame, when the noticed his wounds the whispering that he heard grew louder and the desire he felt to silence it was screaming at him.

At least his father wasn't here, nor his uncles or his aunt. He was glad of that, if nothing else. He jumped from the horse as he always used too but his shoulder burned and his legs buckled and Jaime fell to the ground, the muttering grew louder and Jaime's eyes burned and he told himself that it was only due to the pain. Soon Vlyarr was there and was helping him up to his feet as two other men helped Tyrion down.

They entered the Rock and walked so many steps that Jaime didn't even want to try and count them, they eventually reached the Maester's toward as soon as he saw the wound on Jaime's shoulder his face turned pale and he began to mutter before he turned to his shelves and began to collect various herbs and ointments. "Let us hope that I am not to late my Lord. Help him to the table if you would."

Jaime was laid down gently as the Maester crushed and brewed some herbs together to create a thick paste which he soon spread over the wound and it took all Jaime had not to scream. "Tyrion...he's hurt as well." He muttered, his head felt as heavy as a stone and all he wanted to do was to sleep, the Maester came over with some bandages but at Jaime's words he turned to look at Tyrion.

"I will see to that my Lord, but right now you are more important so please be still if you could." And with that the Maester began to bind his wound tightly with the dressings and Jaime wanted to scream as the pressure was put on his wound but he bit his tongue and managed to stop himself from doing so, though only just. The maester then brought more of the mixture and spread it on the little cut on his arm as well. "I've seen great men dead from cuts even smaller than this, best to be cautious I think." The Maester turned and came back with a cup. "Milk of the poppy, drink."

Jaime didn't even have to think about it, he opened his mouth and the Maester simply poured the milk into his mouth. Once the Maester was satisfied that his work with Jaime was done he turned his attentions on to Tyrion. Jaime wasn't sure how long he laid on the table but he knew that the world started to seem so very far away, the table was not a bed stuffed with goose feathers and covered with silk sheets but it was comfortable enough to fall asleep on.

Before he could the door slammed open and Jaime's vision was filled by his father's frowning visage. "I am not pleased Jaime, not at all. Lannisters do not act like fools and this was beyond foolish, Maester. Will his arm heal?"

"It should, my Lord."

"A pity, a part of me hoped that it would fester. You once told me that the best part of your was your sword arm, perhaps losing it would teach you some humility. Regardless you are lucky that the Maester is competent at his work and I have no desire to have a cripple for a son." Tywin's gaze was unforgiving and Jaime tried to say something but his tongue felt too thick and heavy to get any words out. "Did you give him milk of the poppy?"

"Yes my Lord, I think that along with the stressful events of the day have exhausted him."

And that was the last that Jaime heard, he fell and the darkness claimed him.

End of Chapter Thirty-Three.

* * *

 **So, there we are then. The longest chapter I have written for this story thus far, I originally planned for this chapter to have a conversation with Jaime and Elia in it towards the end but I felt that it would feel a bit unnatural for Elia to come and see him or to have Jaime have enough strength to go and see her, plus I thought the chapter was getting a little too long. So, that conversation will be in a different chapter and will most likely be from Elia's POV.**

 **The next chapter will be a Cersei one, so we are heading back to Dragonstone to see how she's handling being the princess of it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and if you could leave a review, a follow and a favourite then that would be just great and would mean so much to me, as always constructive criticism is encouraged.**

 **With much love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	34. Chapter 34

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Four.

Cersei felt at though her head was going to split apart, the storm that had raged over Dragonstone the night before had lasted all through the night and had kept her awake until the sun had finally broken through the clouds, she had only managed then to close her eyes and even then only for a few minutes before she had to awake and attend her duties, she would've stayed in her bed and rise when it suited her but she knew that she couldn't, Rhaegar had trusted her to run the castle for him and she could not let him down.

She missed her husband, he seemed to be spending most of his time now with the maester and the castellan now more than he ever did with her, he would still come to her bed and take her and she did not mind that, she would never deny Rhaegar and the pleasure she brought to him was like nothing she had ever experienced, not even Jaime had been able to make her feel like Rhaegar did but he never seemed to have time for her in the day anymore, he missed how gently he would speak to her and how in the early days when they had come to Dragonstone he would sit with her and smile, she loved him more than ever when he smiled. Her Dragon Prince was so melancholy that when he did finally smile for her then it was more beautiful than the sun, brighter than any piece of gold in Casterly Rock.

She missed his singing even more than his smiles however, the last time he had sang for her was at their wedding feast back in King's Landing in the throne room of the Red Keep, his harp had been high and beautiful just like his voice and it had made her weep, she had sworn when she had been a little girl that nothing would ever make her cry. She was a lioness after all and she would always be strong but the words and the notes had caused her to tear up, no one had said anything to her of course. It was her wedding night, she could cry if she wanted too.

It had truly been the best night of her entire life, nothing was sure to match it. There had been seven bards and dozens upon dozens of singers and food that had been some of the most delicious that she had ever taste and so much wine that towards the end of the feast that Cersei could hardly stand, she danced all night until her feet were sore and then she danced even more with her brother, her father, her uncles and so many lords and knights and her husband at least four times.

The moment she had been taken to his bed had to the best the most joyous of her life, this had been the moment that she had been looking for such a long time. He has kissed her neck and her breasts and between her legs and when he thrust inside of her it had brought her far more pleasure than Jaime had ever had, when the sun has finally risen she didn't want to awake. She wanted to stay in her dragon's arms forever.

But now all those memories just seemed like sweet dreams to her, half remembered and foolish. She wanted him back at her side, she wanted him to kiss her and hold her and fuck her till she couldn't remember her own name. But, he would not come to her and she was forced to content herself with the pleasure of her companions that every princess must have.

Cersei despised the lot of them, the girl from the Riverlands, Jenna was her name, was a pathtic little power grabber and agreed with everything Cersei said without a single thought. Normally Cersei quite liked it when people agreed with her but the girl was so unsubtle about it that it was clear to her that she was simply trying to gain as much favour with her as she could. Cersei would normally have dismissed her but she had changed her mind, the girl was so desperate for any favour to benefit her tiny little house that she was willing to do anything to please her. That would have it's advantages.

Her other ladies were not much better, the ladies from the Westerlands were mostly Lannisters but all of them were from the Lannisport branch of the family and Cersei didn't think that she had ever spoken a word to any of them before in her life and they were all idiots, Cersei could barely stand to hear any of them open their mouths.

The oldest was named Lilianna Lannister and she was the eldest daughter of the Lord of House Lannister of Lannisport, Cersei didn't remember his name although it was possible that she had simply never cared to learn it, she had spent time in Lannisport of course but most of it had been with Jaime, they had wanted to get away from Casterly Rock and from all the little rats that ran around it's halls, waiting to take words to their father's ears. Most of the time in Lannisport had been spent in taverns were they had been forced to dress as lowborn so they would not run any risk of any one noticing them.

Cersei had hated it but she had wanted to be close to Jaime and when he had told her that she was the most beautiful woman in the world no matter what she wore then all her frustrations drained away and Jaime had bought a room for the two of them and they stayed in that room until it was nearly morning and they had to go back before they were found not to be in their rooms.

Lilianna was going to inherit the large manse in the middle of Lannisport and her father had never had any sons, apparently there was some infighting between the Lannisters of Lannisport and the other off branches of the family that also lived in the city, the Lannys, the Lannets and the Lanntells, about the inheritance as many of them had male sons who could be placed in the line of inheritance ahead of her but her father had been adamant that only a Lannister could rule over Lannisport.

Cersei's father had agreed and had made it clear that Lilianna was the heir to the manse and would soon rule over Lannisport as her father did. Cersei had to admit that when she had heard of that, it had stung. Why was her father so adamant to protect some distant cousin's inheritance right and not the right of his own daughter? Did he not see that she had always been the only one to listen to him when he spoke? She was more his son than either of his actual sons, she loved Jaime well, how could she not? He was practically her reflection but he did not have her mind, he did not have a thimble of her wits and Tyrion was a twisted little beast that had killed their mother, neither of them would be able to rule Casterly Rock like it needed to be ruled.

It was always meant to be hers, always. Still, she would be queen now and that was all that she would need, and when Rhaegar died which she hoped was when he was old and grey and their son took his place as king then he would need her help to rule, she would always be the true queen no matter what anyone said, no matter what some old witch said.

Cersei shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, none of that matter anymore. She had married Rhaegar, her prince and the witch had been right about that but everyone in all the realm knew she was going to marry Rhaegar. She had just been an old fraud who tried to terrify a young girl so she could be rid of her, that was all of it.

She turned her attention down to the needlework in her hands and she frowned at the sight of it, as the best of times she found this to be a complete waste of her time and as the worst of times she wanted to use her needles to stab someone's eyes out, and with her head still threatening to split open these were not the best of times. Her ladies made for perfect targets in her mind, Lilianna was sitting on her left which was often considered to be a place of honour but in truth Cersei had not paid much thought to it, she just knew that someone had to sit at her left and if someone had too then it might as well be a Lannister.

Sitting on her right was Jenna, and oh the girl had blushed and smiled and had crowed about how honoured she was and it had took all Cersei had to keep her smile on her face and to stop herself from wrapping her hands around her throat and chocking the life out of her so she wouldn't have to hear any more words from her but she knew that she couldn't, who would want to serve a queen who throttled her own ladies when they irritated her?

Next to Lilianna were her two younger sisters, the elder was called Marianna and the younger was called Lucille, apparently they also had two younger sisters as well who were too young to leave their home but Cersei hadn't cared to learn their names. To be truthful Cersei didn't like any of them, they may have been her kin but blood was the only thing that bounded them. They were lacking in wits, she had hoped that she might have been able to find something of a friend in Lilanna due to hoping that she would understand what it was like to have what should of been yours but the girl did not rail against the injustices that her sex forced on to her, nor did she rage against the treacherous snakes who dared to call themselves her family, offering sweet smile as they sharpened their blades behind her back.

No, all she did was smile and talk about how beautiful Lannisport was by the day and how it seemed to come alive at night and how one of her favourite things to do was sit at her window at night and watch as the great Lannister fleet sailed around the harbour, Cersei wondered if all women were so feeble and she was the only one that was clever enough to see how unfair it all was, the gods did love their stupid jokes, she had learned that very long ago. She should have been born a man, instead she had been trapped in this feeble cage of flesh and taught how to please and sing and smile.

It in enraged her, and her rage could burn a city to naught but ashes and cinders. The only consolation in all of it was Rhaegar, her sweet Rhaegar made her glad as only as a woman would she have been able to marry him. If she had been born a man then she would never have been able to become a queen, and she had wanted that for such a very long time.

But if she had been a son instead of a daughter then she would have been the Lord of Casterly Rock, she was minute older than Jaime it was hers by right. She would have been the Lord of Casterly Rock, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Shield of Lannisport and Warden of the West. Father might never have worn any crowns but he was the king in all but name when he reigned as the hand, any one with half a wit saw that. That was the true reason that he had been dismissed from his position as hand, not because those vile rumors about the King and Cersei's mother having any truth about them.

She might have even served as Rhaegar's hand and all the realm would knew that she was the true king, and all would beg her favour.

But she had not been born a son, she had been born a daughter. She would be the queen that all could see and not the King who would rule from the shadows, this was her lot but it did not matter. She would still rule and her name would be remembered for thousands and thousands of years, her father would be remembered as the man who sired her, Rhaegar as the man who married her, Jaime and Tyrion as her brothers and nothing more.

If Lilianna's foolishness irritated her then her sisters infuriated her, whatever small amount of wits that their older sister might posses had not been passed on down to them as they would often only speak of their dresses and certain men that had caught their eyes, Cersei despised the both of them and if she could when she was the queen then she would have them both sent to the Silent Sisters.

But at least those three were Lannisters, the ones that Cersei hated the most were the two girls from the Reach, distantly related to the Tyrells apparently but that mattered little and less to Cersei and she could not remember to which house either of them belonged too or if in fact they belonged to the same one. They were called Jennifer and Laura and they were both pretty, if Cersei was forced to admit to that much but she didn't think that was saying much to be honest, they were both young and had long brown hair and every girl with brown hair of a certain age was passingly pretty but when age took them they quickly became wizened old hags.

Cersei hated Jennifer the most, not just between the two Reach girls but out of all the ladies that she had been forced to have attend her. She had been the one that Rhaegar had called enchanting and the moment had been burned into her mind, sometimes when she closed her eyes she could still see her sweet husbands saying the words.

He had comforted her about it, had said that no one could be more beautiful than her but it did little too sooth her than and it did even less to calm her rage now. Why her father had allowed these two Reach girls to attend her she could not begin to fathom, couldn't he see that they were threats? If Rhaegar choose to take Jennifer as a mistress, and even the thought of that caused her hands to clench tightly around her needles and she wondered what the rest of her dear ladies would do if she decided to shove them through her eyes, then any children she might bear would prove a threat to her children and there could be a another Blackfyre rebellion.

She could only hope that Rhaegar wasn't so stupid as Aegon the Unworthy had been or as mad as his own father, thankfully he did not seem to be either and she did not think that Rhaegar would be so cruel as to dishonour her with one of her own ladies but even so she could not be sure, she wanted the Reach girl gone.

As looked at Jennifer she realised that she noticed a resemblance to someone from her childhood, Melara Heatherspoon, that was it. It was as if her bedmaid had never fallen into that well all those years ago and she had grown to be a woman, the same brown hair that was so dark that it was almost black as night and eyes that were near enough the same, the resemblance unnerved her but it did set her to thinking.

Dragonstone was dangerous and treacherous, it was often assaulted by fierce storms and winds so strong that it seemed to Cersei that in truth it would be so very easy for it to sweep a grown man off of his feet and down, down, down to the raging sea below. Jennifer was not a slight girl to be sure, growing in the Reach with it's bountiful harvests and great feasts but she was hardly near a man in size, the thought of the whore racing down to meet the seas below caused her to grab her hands to make sure that none could see them shaking with anticipation.

"Sweet cousin." Cersei called to Lilianna with the sweetest voice and the kindest smile that she could muster. "I wonder if you would mind switching seats with dear Jennifer? I would like to know more of our dear lady from the Reach."

The girl did have enough wits not to defy her and soon she switched seats with Jennifer although Cersei did notice that she did not look best pleased, well it was of no matter to her if the girl was pleased or not. It was not for a princess to please her ladies, it was for a princess's ladies to please her so that she might consider letting them stay in her service.

She honestly did not think she would let any of them serve her when she was a queen, she didn't like any of them and they were all lackwits, when she was the queen and back in King's Landing she would surrounded herself with beautiful ladies, none of them would be as beautiful as her of course, and witty as well, though none of the wit would be aimed at her.

Jennifer seemed pleased to be able to sit at her side and answer all of the questions that her princess had for her, she had two older brothers and she was a daughter of House Roxton, she loved her brothers well but she had always wished for a sister and she was oh so very grateful for the chance to serve Cersei and she hoped so much that she would serve her well.

It was pathetic, not as blatant as Jenna had been to be certain but she was still just another ambitious opportunist, grasping at even the slightest chance of power that she could get her grubby little hands on. Cersei would do well to be rid of her as soon as possible, she asked if Jennifer would like to join her for a private walk around Dragonstone and the girl gasped like she had just offered her all of the gold in Casterly Rock and so of course she oh so quickly accepted, a slow smile formed on Cersei's face.

As soon as she had accepted the offer to the door to the small chamber where the ladies were expected to sew until the time came to eat was opened and Cersei was disappointed, she had been hoping that it would've been the Maester who would come and give her some remedy to deal with this pain in her head or failing that, that it might be Rhaegar come to see her but it was only the servants who had brought food to them so they might break their fast.

Cersel had slept later than normal and her ladies had not wanted to break their fast without her and so the servants had been instructed to bring the food to them, like most courses on Dragonstone of late, it was fish. Cersei normally quite liked fish but lately it seem as through ever single meal was fish, fish in the morning, feast when the sun hung high in the sky and fish at the end of the day as well.

To their credit the cooks at least always tried to offer something different with each course but Cersei was growing weary of it, the stores were running low of anything else and there were always fish in the sea. Apparently the lowfolk of the grim little island had been demanding that they open the stores to the rest of the island as it had been a harsh winter for them so far and while the sea was always full at the moment few seemed to be coming to Dragonstone.

Her husband had given into them and allowed them some small access to the stores, sharing what they could afford to give. Cersei had not been pleased when she heard of it, she would have answered them with fire and blood and steel but her husband had made his decision and naught she could say would get him to change his mind. She hoped there would be something different for their supper tonight at least, she wasn't sure what she wouldn't do at the moment for a haunch of Venison, a thick wedge of Pork pie or a few rashers of boar bacon.

The fish was medium sized and a silver grey colour and it was served to them on a bed of lettuce with a few brown mushrooms that had been cooked in butter at the side, Cersei was served first as was her do and she was too hungry to wait for the others to be served and so with her fork and her dagger she sliced free a chunk of the fish and popped into her mouth.

As soon as she popped it in to her mouth she knew that something was wrong, the fish was greasy and it caused her stomach to turn and with rush of vomit the fish landed on the floor. Suddenly there was chaos, once of the servants dropped a platter of fish and older servant with grey hair and sagging teats began to yell at her and told her that she was going to beat her with a wooden spoon until every inch of her flesh was black and blue.

Other servants tried to scoop the fish up while other servants yelled at them to leave them as Cersei's ladies surrounded her and began to call to her and asked so many questions and began to feel her skin to see if she was hot and she felt someone began to feel her throat to see if something was stuck in her throat and the hand at her throat tightened around her neck and Cersei pulled away roughly began to scream at the top of her voice. "Out! Everyone out now! And fetch the Maester now!"

Her fury was a terrible thing to behold, Cersei had always known that and her ladies and the servants fled the room at her command. Her stomach was still turning and her head felt like there was a war drum inside of it that someone would not desist on banging on. She relaxed into her chair and shut her eyes, trying to calm herself.

After a few moments of sitting along in the dark the door was opened and the Maester stepped in, Cersei did not like the man if she was to be honest. She found him to common but he had a Maester's chain and she was all that she had to hand so she would have to make do, he stepped forward to examine her and frowned as she described what had happened to her before a light appeared in his eyes. "My princess...when was the last time that you had your moon blood?"

Cersei felt her mouth drop open and she was half tempted to stand from her chair and slap the man across the face for asking such an impertinent question before it suddenly struck what he actually meant. Her hand fell down to cup at her still flat stomach and a gentle smile began to spread across her face as she realised that it would not be flat for very much longer. "Go and fetch my husband, now."

Cersei did not see the Maester leave nor did she hear him go as she simply kept all of her attention focused on her stomach, her fingers brushing gently over it as she thought of the little prince or princess that grew inside of her. She knew that she could do it, she knew that she wouldn't fail. Not her, not her precious Rhaegar.

The door opened again, much more violently this time and Rhaegar was standing there where Cersei looked up. He was breathing heavily and his purple eyes were wide in shock and Cersei realised that he had run all the way here to her and that thought caused her heart to swell with love for him. His eyes landed on her stomach and Cersei saw something in his eyes, a mixture of emotion that was made of love, relief and satisfaction.

Her prince stepped forward and got down on to his knees, resting his head against her stomach and began to hum a song that Cersei did not recognise but it soothed her and made her tired and so she closed her eyes and listened to her husband sing.

She wouldn't let the wood witch's words come true. She wouldn't.

End of Chapter Thirty-Four.

* * *

 **Welp, there we go another chapter with Cersei. This was shorter than I was planning but I think that it turned out alright all things considered. The next chapter I think will be from Elia's POV and the one after that either from Doran's or Ned's. Depending on which I decide will go first.**

 **You may notice that Cersei mentioned a wood witch, no prizes for what that's about but obviously the prophecy she heard was different but I won't go into details about what the prophecy said until Cersei's next chapter which I don't think will be for a while.**

 **If you could please leave a review then I would love that, favourite and follow as well if you don't mind.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345**


	35. Chapter 35

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Five.

Elia was still not happy to be trapped in Casterly Rock as she was but after a time she had found that her sadness had...not faded, to be exact but she found that she could bare it much more easily now. There were still moments when she felt like bursting into tears but she seemed to find that the more time passed, the more she found sadness to be natural to her. Like it seemed to be a constant companion to her. She had learned to deal with it, though that fact did not bring her much joy.

It warred with her loneliness as to what seemed to control her, she was not truly alone of course as Clara seemed to follow her every step and the only time that she left her company was when she went to go and eat her dinner or when she went to report on her, she wasn't sure if the girl was Lord Tywin's creature of Lady Genna's but she supposed in the end it didn't really matter.

She didn't blame the girl for reporting on her, she was simply doing as she was bid and she had only been ordered to be her maid and she had only been so for a little over two moons. She had no loyalty to her and Elia had no right to expect the girl to have any loyalty to her. Who would defy the Old Lion or the Lioness when you lived in their den and were always at their mercy?

The girl wasn't her only companion of course, Lady Dorna had been her companion as well and Elia got the feeling that the older woman felt as lonely as Elia did. The woman was not a bad person, Elia was certain of that. Most of the time they had spent together the older woman spent it praying when she wasn't sewing and imploring Elia to join her. Most of the time Elia agreed, so long as Dorna understood that she preferred to pray silently. It at the very least gave her some quiet.

She sometimes brought her daughters with her but that was a rarity, Cerenna was not adapt at sitting still for long and she had no interest in needlework which still caused a great deal of embarrassment for her mother. Her infant daughter was much more agreeable, Myrielle was a happy babe that seemed to love being held and laughter came easy to her but Elia did not feel the joy that should surely come naturally to anyone when a babe laughed, all she felt was that deep sadness within her growing in it's intensity.

She had been wondering what her and Ned's baby would look like? It would it be a boy or a girl? Would it have her curly dark hair, her black eyes, her ill heath? Would it have Ned's brown hair? His grey eyes that reminded her of summer snows or his lips which Elia never loved more than when she managed to convince him to smile? Dorna was smarter than she seemed as she had noticed that she was upset and had not brought Myrielle with her again.

The only other companion she had was her babe, it seemed to be moving more and more and Elia hated it, hated the fact that it was moving and when she realised that she hated herself more. She wanted Ned to be here with her, she wanted to have his hand on her belly so she could feel their child move but he wasn't here. He was a thousand miles away from her.

In her lowest moments, she wondered what he was doing. She wondered if he even missed her, was he begging his father to raise up armies to get her back or was he just sitting around in Winterfell, barely even noticing that she had gone. She knew that it was ridiculous, she knew that Ned loved her. He had proven that to her before but the fact of the matter was that she had no idea what her husband, or her brothers, were doing.

Elia had championed patience and she had not regretted that, she didn't want war. She didn't want thousands of men dying in her name, she didn't want Oberyn to die in her name, she didn't want her husband to die because of her and leave her child without a father, she didn't want thousands of Dornishmen and North men to die and be sent back home to their mothers and wives and sisters and brothers and fathers. She truly didn't want anyone to die.

Her thoughts turned towards Kevan and Dorna's only son and eldest child, Devan, he was a lad of ten and was squiring for a knight that Elia had seen around Casterly Rock. If it came to war then he would have to go with that knight, clean his sword and help him dress in his armour and prepare his meals. And he would be expected to fight as well, and die if needed be. A boy, and men three times his age would kill him.

Elia didn't want that. She didn't want anything like that but every day that there was no word about Dorne or the North rising up their banners in revolt a tiny voice at the back of her head told her that she had been forgotten. She always tried to tell herself that it was ridiculous, Ned wouldn't forget about her and neither would Oberyn but the problem was that as much as she loved it wasn't them that was going to be able to save her, it all came back to Lord Rickard and to Doran.

They were the only ones who could command their banners to rise up their forces if it came to it, the only ones who could give them the order to march. Doran was her brother and Elia loved him greatly but she knew that Doran would not go to war lightly and would only go if he saw no other option. She normally always agreed with her brother when it came to his decisions but now she was on the other side of it and while she didn't want war the fact that her older brother seemed to be doing nothing, not even asking for her back even though it would be pointless, stung.

Lord Rickard she could understand more, she was only his good daughter and she couldn't expect him to put her above his people. Her mother had always taught them that a liege lord must always be willing to put the people they ruled over above anything else, even the people that they loved. Ned could implore that his father act but the final decision would be his.

She wondered how much longer it would be until they acted, the babe would not be inside of her much longer. Each day that passed filled her with dread as she realised that she was more and more likely to give birth to it here. And she didn't want that, she wanted to back in Winterfell with the Maester and Ashara and Catelyn and even Lyanna to help her, she wanted Ned to be outside the door with his brothers and his father just barely being able to hold him back from bursting into the room. She wanted to see the look on his face as she handed the babe over to him, fitting it into his arms and watching as he looked down at the life they had created together. She wanted to hold her babe while she was surrounded by people she loved.

Elia's eyes burned as she ripped her gaze away from her hands and stared across the room and out the window, the view was as lovely as ever, the sky a lovely peach colour as the sun hid behind the clouds but the sight of it did little to cheer her. Far below, even from where she was sitting, she could hear the sounds of waves crashing against the stone of the Rock. It was like the sound of war drums, it almost manage to cover up Dorna's prayers.

The older woman was with her today, along with Clara, and at the moment she was reading from the seven pointed star with all of her attention focused on to the sacred text. The amount of times that Dorna read that book Elia was certainly that she would have it committed to memory, gods, Elia probably knew a great deal of it by now as well. She had read the holy book of the faith before but it was never something she spent a great deal of time dwelling on.

Dorna had said that prayer could be the thing that could save you in the middle of the darkest nights, it could offer some light. Elia was more certain that it would be steel or blood that would save her, or damn her. There were times when she couldn't seem to remember what the difference was. Still, the woman was kind and the woman was lonely and Elia did not have it in her to be cruel to her and she was only trying to help her, to make her feel better and so Elia bore her preaching with a smile on her face.

Clara seemed decidedly less patient with her, a small frown on her face as she gazed without seeing at a wall, it didn't surprise Elia that the girl was bored, she was young and could've been doing anything at that moment but instead she was forced to sit in a room as listen to an old woman drone on and on about the gods. It was odd but perhaps Elia could use that, if she hated hearing Dorna preach then Elia could invite the woman to spend more time with her, it might drive Clara to ask for a different duty. She did not hate Clara but that did not change the fact that she was a spy and Elia needed to be ride of her, of course she would be replaced but while whoever her master was choosing who would replace her Elia could think of a way out of this, she could speak to Tyrion without having to worry that the girl would be listening to every word that she spoke to him and would then run to tell on her.

Of course that was working on the assumption that her master would care that she was bored out of her skull listening to Dorna pray and if she was ordered to spy on her by Tywin then she doubted very much that he would care, or that Clara would be brave enough to complain about it. Genna might listen to her but she doubted that the older woman would allow the girl to leave Elia's service.

Every time it seemed that Elia had an idea as to how she could find a way out of this terrible ordeal it always seemed that she thought of something that made her realise that there was something wrong with her plan or that the plan wouldn't truly matter in the end, she could think of a way to get out of Casterly Rock easily enough but so far the best plan she had thought up only ended with her getting as far as Lannisport. She could try to hide in the walled city but she had no friends there and when Tywin Lannister came looking for her there was no one that would hide her then.

She was so very weary of all of this, most days all she wanted to do now was stay in her bed and sleep. Not that her wish was ever granted to her as Clara always bid her to rise, when she wasn't forced to sit and sew and pray she was often invited to sit with Lady Genna and her ladies, she had noticed that most of Genna's ladies and her maids were closer to their lady in age and that made Elia think that Clara was in fact Lord Tywin's creature as if Genna had sent her than Elia imagined that she would have been older.

Tyrion would often come and sit with her and he was capable of making her laugh, a rare feat now it seemed. Still, aside from making her laugh there was little that he could do to truly help her. He could order servants to bring them wine or something to eat if they were hungry but that was the limits of his powers. He could hardly order them not to tell his father what they were speaking off, they would do it regardless and Tyrion would have to suffer the consequences of that.

She seemed a small boat, in the middle of a storming sea at the mercy of the seas and the winds and all she could do was try and keep herself together while greater forces than her decided her fate. Perhaps she would remain a prisoner in Casterly Rock for the rest of her days and grow to an old maid, her child who would have the blood of Queen Nymeria and the Kings of Winter, would be forced to serve as a common household knight if he was a boy or be forced to wait on a lady if she was a girl. Elia couldn't let that happen, she would not let that happen.

The only problem was that she had no idea what she could about it.

Elia kept her gaze out through the window and the sound of the crashing waves and the sound of Dorna reading from the book started to sound much the same as each other, in it's own way it became quite soothing and she felt herself beginning to tire. It was rude to fall asleep when someone was speaking of course but if Dorna noticed, which was unlikely as she never noticed when Clara fell asleep which was almost every time, she could just blame it on the babe tiring her.

Just as she was about to slip off of the cliff edge and fall into the darkness of sleep, there was a sharp rap on the door of her room and that jolted her awake. Clara rose to her feet and Dorna stopped reading from the book as the younger woman made it to the door and opened it so she could peer outside to see who had knocked. Clara turned to face her. "It is Ser Jaime, Princess. He asks if he might come in."

Elia nodded before she rubbed at her eyes to try and wake herself some more, it would do no good to appear tired. Clara pulled the door open all of the way so that Jaime could step through. He seemed paler than usual and smaller as well, she supposed that it was to be expected after a man was wound. His shoulder and arm were still wrapped in layers of white silk and were tied in such a way that his arm was pressed close to his chest, to restrict the movement that he was allowed, the Maester had said as he was worried that free movement might worsen the wound and cause it to fester, and if that happened he would have no choice but to remove the entire arm at the shoulder.

Tyrion had been wounded as well from his and Jaime's little adventure, a small puckered wound that had resulted from when he had been poked hard with his brother's spear when it had been stolen from Jaime by a robber. The wound had since scabbed over and all that was left of it now was a tiny white scar on the Dwarf's face, about the size of a copper.

Tyrion said that it made him more handsome, Elia hadn't been able to stop herself from laughing at that. It felt good to know that she could still laugh, even if the thing she laughed about wasn't truly very funny. It had been the closest to happy that she had felt in a very long time.

"Jaime! I am so glad to see you up and about!" Dorna said with a bright smile as she closed her book and stood up, pressing a kiss to both of his cheeks which Jaime accepted with surprising grace. "We've all been praying for you to recover, are you feeling better?"

"I am auntie, thank you." Jaime said as he ducked his head and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, though it seemed more dutiful than out of any actual affection. Jaime pulled back from the older woman and he turned his gaze on to Elia, to her surprise she saw something in the younger man's eyes that she had not seen before, it almost looked like regret. "Alas auntie, is not you who I have come to speak to. Princess, I wonder if we might speak alone for a moment, perhaps you would be so kind as to join me for a little walk. Just you and I."

Elia frowned, trying to think of any reason why Ser Jaime would wish to speak to her and not being able to think of one, their last conversation had not ended well and had just left her with more questions. Still, she couldn't say no to him, that was the tricky thing about being a captive. Even if the people holding you were just as unhappy to have you and you were unhappy to be had.

So Elia pushed herself up from her chair, keeping one hand on her bump as the movement seemed to have roused the babe somewhat, and painted a smile on her face. "I would enjoy that a great deal Ser Jaime, do we have a destination in mind or shall we simply wander?"

To give Jaime some credit, he was at least smart enough to realise that Elia did not seem at all happy with going with him but he did not rescind his invitation either. Clara asked her if she would like her to accompany her but it was Jaime who answered by telling her that she would not be needed, Dorna happily said that Clara could stay and pray with her and the girl looked like she would be more happy having her tongue removed with red hot piercers.

Jaime offered his hand and Elia took it with as much grace as she could muster, it was hard to be graceful when you were tired. Not just tired as in she wanted to fall on to her bed and sleep but tired of everything, tired of waking up. Tired of eating, tired of breathing. The way her thoughts had been going lately...it scared her, it scared her beyond any measure and she sometimes wondered that if it weren't for the babe that was growing inside of her...

She couldn't think like that, she wouldn't allow herself too. She rubbed at her eyes quickly and shoved that thought to the back of her mind, refusing to dignify it by giving anymore thought to it. Ser Jaime lead her through the long and high corridors of the Rock, every now and then there was a gust of cold wind that caused the flames of the torches to flicker and throw long shadows and caused Elia to clutch her cloak closer to herself to try and shield herself from the worst of it.

It was odd, she had never felt cold in Winterfell. Oh, when she had first come to the North she had been freezing and she had been terrified that Winterfell would bleak and cold and grim and there wouldn't be a moment where she was not sick but she had never been cold in Winterfell, not if she didn't want to be. Water from the springs underneath the great castle had been carried around the castle through pipes like blood had been carried through a man's body by his veins. Winterfell had never been unwelcoming.

And in her mind, that made it greater than Casterly Rock could ever hope to be. She wanted to see it again, she didn't want this cold and gloomy place to be the thing that she would see for the rest of her life.

Elia was brought out of her thoughts when she and Jaime had taken a different turn than normally, it would seem that it would take them away from the surface and deeper into the Rock. "Well, I must admit that this is something new to me. I have never truly felt the urge to explore the Rock before, not that I have had many opportunities to do so." She tried to sound more interested than she felt but she was fairly certain that she could not quiet manage it.

Ser Jaime seemed to notice as well, a small frown had found a place on his face and Elia noticed that it seemed almost unnatural. His was not a face that was made for frowning but, and although it was petty and cruel of her, a part of her couldn't help but indulge in his sorrow. His actions had brought great sorrow on to her, it was only fair that he had his own little sorrow as well, even if it was only just because he had lost the use of his sword arm for a while.

"I am sorry." Jaime said and his voice brought Elia out of her spiteful thoughts and she turned to look at the man walking next to her, and now that she looked at him, truly looked at him, she could see the truth of it. The look on his face was shame, he was ashamed. "I knew that I said I would not apologise for what I did but I was wrong, I am sorry for what I did. I can't explain why I did it, you wouldn't understand but I am sorry. I didn't mean for you to be separated from your husband, that wasn't meant to happen."

Elia honestly had no idea what she was to say to that, the last time she had spoken to the older Lannister brother he had seen utterly unrepentant about what he had done. He had almost acted like he had done it for her, she had given up trying to figure out why he had done it. It was certainly not because he was in love with her, he had admitted to that much. A part of her thought that it had just been a fit of madness and for a moment she remember the stories that had gone around the kingdoms about the Lady Joanna and the King...

It suddenly struck her that they had come to a stop in the passageway and were staring at one another, Jaime Lannister staring into her eyes. Elia brought up her hand to her mouth and cleared her throat. "Well, I thank you for apologising to me Ser Jaime, it is very kind of you but in truth there is no need. You did not mean for this to happen, regardless I do appreciate it. I forgive you."

"No, you don't. You don't forgive me, you are still angry with me, a part of you might even hate me." Elia opened her mouth to respond, she didn't know if she was going to deny it or if she was going to scream at him but before she could Jaime held up his hand and she closed her mouth. "Don't deny it Princess, I may not be the smartest man in the realm but I assure you I am not so much the handsome fool as everyone seems to think. I do not expect you to forgive me, that wasn't the point. I just wanted you to know that."

"Well...now I do, now I know that you are sorry for what you have done to me. For ruining my life." Elia was surprised at the bitterness that filled her words and how exhilarated she felt when she saw the shame on Jaime's face grow. "Now that I know, might I be allowed to return to my room? I suddenly find myself to be quiet tired, it may be that I am taking a turn."

"No, not yet. There is something that I want you to see first." Jaime offered his arm and Elia took it with a sigh, it wasn't courteous but she found that she didn't have the energy to keep her armour up anymore. "I promise that as soon as you see this you may return to your rooms, but I think you will be surprised."

A silence fell on them then, any words would simply be uncomfortable talk with no real point to it, and before too long they arrive at two large wooden doors that had splintered with age. Ser Jaime reached out with his free hand and grabbed at the iron ring with his free hand and pulled with all the strength he had, unfortunately while the door opened a crack it did not fully open and Elia had to help Jaime in finally getting it open, though it tired them both.

When Elia gazed through the open doorway her breath was stolen from her lungs and she barely felt her legs carrying her through into the chamber beyond. It was a large chamber that was the shape of an egg and it was made purely of grey stone. There were no windows and the only light that came was from the torches that lined the outside passageway.

Even with that limited amount of light it did not strain her mind to see that the large tree in the middle of the chamber was a weirwood tree, it was not so large as the one back in Winterfell's godwood but it was by no means a small tree, it's wood was pale, even paler than usual but Elia imagined that was due that there was little light that it could drink down here. It's roots were massive, as large as lesser tree's trunks and while some burrowed into the earth some had crawled towards the doorway while others were climbing the walls.

Almost as if it was trying to escape.

"What is this place?" She whispered as she stepped towards the tree, taking care to step over the roots and piles of red leaves that had been laid about. Her voice had been a whisper but the chamber had made it sound like she had shouted it at the top of her voice as her question echoed all around her, in truth she did not need it answered. There was a face carved into the weirwood's trunk, it was a heart tree. This was a godswood.

"This is the Stone Garden, this is the godswood." Jaime said as he stayed near the door, he sounded uncomfortable which Elia could understand. She had felt uncomfortable when she had entered the Winterfell godswood, it was as if the old gods hadn't wanted her there. She had been more than happy to stay out of it after her woods had been said and her married to Ned complete.

Elia sat down on one of the roots, it was so wide that she could lay on it like a lounger and stretch out her arms and her fingers would only just barely go over the sides, and stared into the carved face which was weeping it's red tears. It was odd but she did not feel uncomfortable here, or not as uncomfortable as she had been in Winterfell. Perhaps the Old Gods had accepted her, perhaps they were showing her some mercy because she was carrying a Stark within her, or perhaps what the northerners said was true. The Old Gods had no true power here, most of the weirwoods south of the Neck had been cut down or burned.

"It is beautiful, but I do not worship the Old Gods, Ser Jaime. I do not understand why you have brought me here?"

"Most south of the Neck don't, poor Auntie Dorna has begged my father to get rid of this place. She said it will bring the wrath of the gods down on us but he doesn't listen to her, we would have to rip up the stone and who knows how far down the roots go. But no one ever comes here, no one. I thought that it might be a place you could come where you might have some peace." Jaime glanced down at his feet. "A place where you could think."

It was such a simple gesture, such a sweet gesture that it took all Elia had not to break down weeping. She turned her face away from Jaime and closed her eyes, all she could hear was her own breathing and the sound of the waves rolling into the water caverns far below, it sounded like thunder. It was so peaceful and for a moment, she realised something. She could finally breath. That finally brought tears to her eyes.

She didn't know how long she sat there, she prayed though not to any god in particular. All she did was pray that she would see Ned again, that she would be home before her babe was ready to be born. She stood up from the root after letting out a deep breath and opened her eyes before she turned to look at Ser Jaime, stepping towards him.

"You were right, I did not forgive you. I do not forgive you, I can't. Not yet." Ser Jaime did not seem hurt, he seemed resigned as if he knew that this was what she was always going to say to him. "But this was...a great kindness to me, Ser Jaime. And I promise you. I will not forget it." Elia leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Jaime's cheek, she could feel the beginning of blond stubble under her lips.

As she pulled back Elia saw something that she hadn't seen before.

She saw Jaime Lannister smile.

End of Chapter Thirty-Five.

* * *

 **Well, there we go. Another chapter down and I really enjoyed writing this one though it went on longer than I though it would, I didn't think this would go over three thousand words.**

 **Now, on a personal note in two days time this story will be a year old and I would just like to thank everyone that followed, favourited and reviewed this story. I would like to thank those that praised me and I would like to thank those who offered constructive criticism. Because of you, I am becoming a better writer. I truly do believe that.**

 **I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter and I think that the next chapter will be a Doran one as he deals with the fact that he has basically taken a not inconsiderable number of Dornish nobles as his "guests".**

 **See you all then.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	36. Chapter 36

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Six.

Doran sat in his wheeled chair behind the desk of his solar in the Water Gardens, a pitcher of clear water and a pitcher of a sour red which he was quite fond of perched atop his desk, along side them was a small bowl filled with olives and a plate pilled high with flatbreads which were coated with black pepper and glazed with golden butter, a personal favourite of his and he would have to remind himself to thank the cook for them.

He also had various fruit scattered about in bowls. Oranges and pomegranates and lemons and figs, for which the noble lords and ladies that he played host too could nibble on at their leisure. Doran never normally held court in the Water Gardens, that was not the point of it. It was a leisure palace, a place to come and rest and forget their duties for a time, a place where their children could simply be children.

But all of that had seemed to change lately, now the pools were empty and no one seemed to laugh anymore. Men armed with spears and glaives and curved swords and shields patrolled for all to see, more than there had ever been before. He had to send for soliders from Sunspear, the Water Gardens had never been a prison and yet circumstances had forced it to become such.

He had considered sending his brother, his daughters, and the men his brother had recruited to his fool cause to Sunspear. They would be just as comfortable there and even more secure than they were here. The problem was that the amount of people that needed to be transported to Sunspear was not inconsiderable and it was likely that Oberyn could slip away when no one was looking and Oberyn turned loose with nothing to keep him in check was as dangerous as he was unpredictable.

Even if he personally assigned guards to keep watch on his brother while the host was moving to Sunspear that wasn't a certainty that his brother wouldn't be able to escape, Oberyn was a charmer. Everyone in Dorne loved him and he was extremely easy to love, as their mother had used to say. Doran knew the truth of that well enough, for all the headaches and heartaches that Oberyn had caused him over the years, he was still his brother and he loved him greatly.

The problem was that it wouldn't take his brother much to convince a guard to let him slip away, Doran did not doubt his men's loyalty to him but he also didn't doubt how persuasive his brother could be either. The only man he was certain that Oberyn could not charm on to his side would be Aero but he would loath to send him away that far even for a short amount of time, there was no one in the world he trusted more than Aero. The only one he could trust to keep his secrets and keep him safe.

The bearded man was standing in the corner of his room, using a whetstone to sharpen the blades of his great axe. Always willing and eager to serve, Doran didn't think that Aero would be needed and he certainly did not intend for Aero to have to use his great axe but Aero was an intimidating looking man and that could come in handy in it's own way.

When he had taken the lords his brother had brought to him into his hospitality he know that he would have to deal with the consequences of that action though in his head he knew it was the right choice, even though his heart seemed to be in disagreement.

He thought of his sister, he had been about nine years of age when Elia had been born and he had tried his hardest not to get too attached to her. She had been born almost an entire moon too early and it seemed certain that she was going to die, just like Mors had, just like Olyvar had.

But Elia hadn't, she refused to die and just kept on going. Abd despite Doran trying his best to not get attached to his sister, certain that she was going to die for such a long time and the Maester had been in agreement about that, warning Doran's mother that she was still very frail and it had seemed that Mors and Olyvar were going to live as well before they had both turned.

But for every day that her heart kept beating Doran found it harder and harder to resist, and before too long he had found himself loving her. And just in time as well as soon enough he was being sent away to squire for Lord Gargalen at Salt Shore. He was glad that none of the Gargalens had been foolish enough to follow Oberyn in this, though it was just as likely that Oberyn hadn't even bothered to go to Salt Shore as old Lord Gargalen was still alive and looked likely to bury them all and he loved Doran like a son, he wouldn't rise up his spears against him.

He had left for Salt Shore the day that Elia had learned to say his name and a year latter a letter arrived on black wings but the words only brought him more joy, a new babe had been born to his mother and that new one was a brother. He wasn't going to see him for a while as he still had to continue his duties as a squire but close to nine years later he was finally allowed to return to the Water Gardens.

He remembered expecting that his brother would perhaps be a little bit more like him, he certainly was not expecting to find a boy that dashed through the pools of the Water Gardens like he was a water snake and be able to take down boys that were twice his size. He had been nothing like Doran had been, most of his time had been spent inside reading books, to better learn how to rule.

It had been Elia who had finally been able to bring them together, Oberyn had found him to boring when their Mother had finally introduced them to one another and had ran off back outside to play in the pools once again, Elia had been closer to Oberyn which made sense as she was only a year older than Oberyn and they had spent all their years growing with one another but she did know Doran as they had been writing to one another as long as he had been squiring at Salt Shore.

Through her they had formed a bond as brothers should have, though it still grieved him that he was never as close to either of his siblings as they were to one another, though there was little that could be done about that now. Elia had always been helpful, Oberyn had worshiped Elia and through her he had always been easy for Doran to keep in check, to control.

Now that Elia was gone it was only Doran that could deal with him and with each day that passed he was uncertain how Elia had been able to handle him, not to mention his daughters. They were proving to be just as big pains as their father was but he couldn't help but love, Elia was better with them. Elia was always good with children, it did not matter if they were Oberyn's or his, lowborn or highborn, baseborn or true. She always seemed to understand them.

He had always thought that she would make a wonderful mother, and now he would see the proof of that. When news had reached him that Elia was with child he didn't think he could be happier but his happiness had only lasted for a few scant moments when the next few lines in the letter spoke of the Mad King's declaration for her marriage to be dissolved and for her to be betrothed to Ser Jaime Lannister of Casterly Rock, heir of Lord Tywin Lannister, Lord of House Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock and the shield of Lannisport.

It was a fine match to be certain, one that any prince could be proud off and it had been the one their mother had truly wanted for her daughter all those years ago and it had only been the pride of the Old Lion that had stopped it from coming to pass. And Doran perhaps would be happy with it, if only it was possible for them to marry which it was not. It was a betrothal commanded by the king who could not be denied and had no future when the wife was already married to a different man and with that man's child.

He still remembered the rage that threatened to consume him when he read the words that said that the king had callously ordered his sister to drink moon tea if her being with child was an impediment to being betrothed to Ser Jaime. The Mad King was smarter than he seemed, he knew that Elia would not do that. No high born lady, no princess would ever wash away a trueborn child of their husband, there would be no need too.

And if he knew his sister as well as he thought he did then he knew that Elia would have loved the child growing inside of her the moment her blood had stopped and her body had started to swell. His heart hurt to think of her trapped at Casterly Rock but there was little that he could do about it, not yet.

Oberyn would have him raise up all of Dorne and send all the spears that was past the red mountains to bleed and die and suffer for Elia and he knew that Elia would not want that, she would never want anyone to suffer in her name. Oberyn was still young and there were things he still did not understand about Dorne, for all he claimed to know. He would have to see that his brother was educated in those matters as soon as possible.

But that would have to wait, for now he had to focus on making sure that all the spears of Dorne weren't pointed at him. He was not a popular ruler, he knew that well enough. His mother had been one, she had always made it seem so very easy. She made the high and the low love her, charming a dozen lords and ladies with something simple as a few words one day and then riding through the streets of Sunspear, giving her patronage to dressmakers and buy bowls of stew that was nothing compared to what there cooks could make the next.

Doran did not have her gifts, the nobles always seemed to be waiting for him to make a mistake. He had never paid much attention to the lowborn when he was simply a prince, when he was young and strong enough to do so. Now, all the smallfolk knew of him that he was the son of the woman they had all loved and respected and that was it.

The saddest thing was, they didn't see that he did care about them. It was the first lesson that his mother had ever taught him, that when the high lords played their games, and when the banners were called and the men sent off to fight and to die, it was always the lowborn who suffered the most when it came to war.

It was always the villages and towns that were burned and sacked and raped the most, it was always the lowborn who were more likely to go hungry, it was always the lowborn children that were more as liked to be made orphans and the lowborn who were mora as like to lose everything and not even get a bit of it back.

He loved his sister, he loved his brother, he loved his children, he loved his nieces and he knew that he would love the babe that was growing in his sister. But as much as it often pained him to do so, he could not put any of them above Dorne. his mother had trained him to be Dorne's father, Dorne's brother, Dorne's husband. As it's prince, nothing could come before it or it's people in his eyes. Nothing.

He had not even spoken to any of the lords or ladies that would be assembling to speak with him and he already felt exhausted, and he knew that it would only get worse. There was a sharp rap at the door of his solar and Aero stood to his full height, which was not inconsiderable, and strode over to the door and pulled it open.

A servant girl, perhaps around her fifteenth year with black curly hair and dark olive skin, stood outside of the solar looking up at Aero with her amber eyes wide before she shook her head and focused her attention on to Doran. "Forgive me for interrupting, my Prince. But you told me to come and tell you when the first of the lords arrived?"

"Yes, thank you my dear. Please show the first one in." The girl nodded and ducked away, the door closing behind her as she left and as Aero Hotah returned to the corner of the room. Before long the girl had returned with a tall woman with curly black hair that ended at her shoulders following after her.

"My prince." The woman fell gracefully into a deep curtsey, her eyes kept down on to the ground. Doran bid for her to rise and she did so, her amber eyes shinning with something that Doran couldn't recognise. "I can not begin to say how sorry I am, my prince. My brothers have always been hot headed fools so I can easily imagining them doing something like this. But to drag my poor sons into this. I wonder if it would be better if I only had sisters and daughters."

"Lady Vas, I can assure you that there have been several moments when I have wished that I had two sisters instead of just one." Doran said with a grin and a laugh which Lady Vas shared with him, he held out his and the lady took it gently before she pressed a kiss to his ring. "Still, it is troubling is it not? That your brothers and son would do this, could do this without your knowledge?"

"I was not in Dorne at the time, my prince. I was visiting family in Myr." That was believable enough, House Vas was a small house in terms of numbers. If it came to war it could barely raise five hundred spears but it had many friends in the Free Cities, mainly in Myr and Norvos. What they lacked in numbers they made up in trade, trading ships filled with bolts of silk and oranges would often sail into Planky Town.

Dorne had never been a navel power, they had some ships which they used for trade with the other kingdoms and with the Free Cities and other ships that they used to fend off pirates if they were stupid enough to come to close to the shore. But House Vas was the closest house to Planky Town, aside from House Dalt and it was one of the most invested in it.

House Vas had a mix of blood, it was often said that a Vas a had a drop of every sort of blood running through their veins, Andel, First Men and Rhoynar. Myrish and Volantis, a small house but an old and respected one. It would not do to have them as an enemy, if only for the fact that the family in Myr would most likely not be happy.

"I am very sorry that you have had to come back to such disturbing news, my lady. My brother often seems to cause trouble when he is not closely watched, I'll have to rectify that. Know though, it was my honour to have your brothers as my honoured guests." Doran said with a smile.

"They have been treated well, I trust." Lady Vas asked with a smile of her own, one as sharp as a dagger blade. The thing he understood most about Aurelia Vas was for all she was as gentle and wise woman when it came to her sons, her brothers, she was as protective and as fierce as a mountain lion and if she believed that they had been harmed...

Doran doubted that even Aero would be quick enough to save him, or strong enough to fight her off.

"Like kings."

"I am very glad to hear it, might I take them home with me now? And put an end to this?"

"I would like that very much, I hope you will keep them under control of course. We wouldn't want this to happen again."

"No, we would not."

Everything conversation after that one followed much the same lines, there were some differences when it came to Lords such as Folwer and Yronwood, as the guardians of the Prince's Pass and the Boneway it was important that he kept them happy and thus the men Oberyn had brought with him from those Houses had been treated like kings among kings.

As the sun began to set and all of the arrangements had been made and all the men that Oberyn had brought with him were on their way home, perhaps with a bit of luck a little bit more wiser than when they had came, Doran came to realise that he would quite gladly welcome the loss of his legs if it would leave him with cheeks of iron. Who knew that sitting down for so long could be such a painful experience.

Doran got to his feet, Aero, who had been standing in the corner for all of those meetings, as silent as a shadow as just as likely the reason that most of the meetings had gone as well as they had, hurried over to help him but Doran waved him away. The blood that rushed into his legs made him bit at his bottom lip, it felt like knives were ripping into them but after a moment the pain had faded and he let out a sigh of relief.

He grabbed a walking stick that Oberyn had carved for him when his body had began to weaken and he left the solar, walking through the corridors and glancing into various rooms that had belonged to their guests when they had been there, various goblets of wine and platters of food were scattered around and that was only the case in the rooms of the more well behaved guests.

Before he too long he finally arrived at the room that he had confined Oberyn in, two guards were standing outside the door with two spears clenched in their hands. Doran took in a deep breath and pushed open the door, stepping inside with Aero at his heels. Oberyn glanced at him for a moment, his dark eyes narrowing before he stormed off to the other side of the room and glanced out through his window across the yellow sands.

His hair had grown, it now fell to the bottom of his back and a beard had began to grow out as well. A platter of blood oranges and lemons lay on the floor, half eaten and next to it laid an empty goblet which had most likely been filled with wine not too long ago, if the pitchers on the table were anything to go by.

"Your friends have returned to their homes, I supposed it would be too much to hope that you have learned a lesson from all of this." Doran said as he scooped up one of the pitchers with his free hand and took a sniff of it, the vinegary scent nearly made him retch and he placed it back down on the table.

"The lesson I have learned is that you care more about Dorne than you do about our sister, that is all I have learned." Oberyn spat, not even bothering to turn and look at him. "I have learned that you would imprison your own flesh and blood rather than fight to defend them, I have learned how truly craven you truly are. That is what I have learned, was I meant to learn anything different dear brother?"

Doran prided himself on not letting his anger get the better of him but he had to admit that his brother's words had struck a wound but he would not let it show. It was what Oberyn wanted after all, for him to give into his emotions and threw them into a war that they could not win. "The lesson that I hoped that you would have learned is one of patience, of waiting for the right moment. You've damaged our relationships with the other houses greatly and it falls on me to fix it."

"I wasn't the one who had them imprisoned!" Oberyn span around and roared, behind him Doran could practically hear Aero tighten his grip around the shaft of his axe. "That was you, Doran! All I wanted to do was get our sister back! All I wanted was for her and her child to be safe, and then you stopped me! Had me arrested!"

"And you resisted when you could have thrown down your spear, you killed two of my men Oberyn. Men who had served our House loyally and faithfully and in fighting against them you cost them their lives. Another man lost his eye because your daughter stabbed it out with a dagger, the Maester believed that he would live at the time but then his wound festered and rotted, and he died in agony even milk of the poppy couldn't ease his passing. Do you remember them?"

Oberyn at least had the grace to look ashamed at that, he glanced down at his feet for a moment before he looked back up. "I wasn't sure what orders you had given them, for a moment I thought that...I thought that you had ordered them to kill me."

"Obei..." Doran sighed heavily and rubbed at his eyes, telling himself that it was only the heat that was making his eyes sting even though they never stung on days that were far hotter than this. "Do you honestly think that I would give that order? Do you honestly think that I could?"

"Doran, I honestly don't know. You've put Dorne and the lords and ladies of it above me and Elia so many times, how could I be certain? Regardless when your men went near Tyene and Nymeria, Tyene screamed and I was just...all I could see was red." Oberyn let out a heavy sigh of his own and rubbed at his own eyes and in that moment Doran recognised that Oberyn was his brother, but more than that he was also his little brother.

"There my daughters Doran, I love them."

"I have never doubted that, not for a moment." He didn't always agree with how his brother raised them, nor did he particularly approve of how he had conceived them. He might be a Dornishman but he was also a prince of Dorne, he was held to a higher standard. But he never doubted that he loved them just as much as Doran loved Arianne and Quentyn.

Looking back it was not the best decision he could have made in that regard, if anything had happened to Obara, Nymeria or Tyene then there was not a chance that Oberyn would ever forgive him. He knew that he gave Aero that no blood was to be spilled and no one from his brother's party had died but still...

When a man's blood was up, anything could happen. If a spear had been thrown and the guard had misjudged his throw and one of his nieces had been killed because of an order than Doran gave, he was certain that he would not live to regret it. Oberyn loved him, Doran knew that but he loved his daughters and Elia more.

"You would not let me see them, I need to rely on guards telling me they are alright." Doran was shocked to see that Oberyn's eyes were wet and that only seemed to make the desperation in them shine brighter. He had never seen Oberyn look like that, had never seen his brother look vulnerable, never.

Of course, if there was anything that could ever make a man vulnerable then it was his children, especially when it came to daughters. Doran knew the truth of that well enough, Oberyn would be no different even when his daughters were as fierce as his little Sand Snakes, as he had taken to calling them. "My guards are honest men, good men. And you still doubt that I would hurt them? My nieces?"

"If that is the truth of it then let me see them!" Oberyn yelled as he stood forward, behind him Doran could hear Aero mirroring the movement. Oberyn did not look well, Doran could have seen that as soon as he walked in. He was thinner than he had been and Oberyn had always been quite lean. Now through, while he had not quite reached the stage where his skin seemed to be hanging off of the bone that he had seen in those who never had enough to eat, he was still a great deal thinner.

Doran had made sure that food was always provided of course, meals that would sate even the fat flower of Highgarden for an afternoon.

But how much of it had he actually eaten? How many times had servants come back down with platters of food that had gone as cold as stone, or had rotted away to pulp. How many times had his brother thrown platters of food out of the window so it would not tempt him to eat, if Oberyn did have a weakness other than being quick to anger then it was that he was easily tempted.

And even the strongest of men grew weak when they were starved and food was right under their noses.

It seemed to him that Oberyn had only eaten and drunk enough to stave death off and keep him healthy enough in case he needed to try and escape, if it seemed to him that Doran was not going to let him out. Still, as always his brother had overdone it and now he looked like he would be incapable of beating Tyene in a fight, let alone the two guards he kept outside his room.

"Bathe yourself, cut your hair and shave your beard. And most importantly, having something to eat. Then I will let you see them, your friends have returned to their homes but they are all of them under house arrest. For how long will depend on their lord or lady. You are free to leave your rooms, as are your daughters but this does not happen again? Do you understand?" The caring brother was gone then, all that remained was the Prince of Dorne.

"I understand."

"See that you do not forget." And with that Doran turned and left the room, Aero following after him. Doran let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. He was exhausted, right now he would care for nothing more than to be carried off to bed and sleep for a year but he could not, there was still so much left to do.

A servant girl came up to him and asked if there was anything that he needed, he ordered her to bring some more servants and prepare a bath for his brother. He thought about it for a moment and then commanded the girl to make sure that it was only male servants that attended his brother when he bathed.

Men were just as likely to get fucked as women were by his brother but there was far less chance of any bastards being born from that tumble, if he couldn't stop his brother from making children then he could at least do what he could to limit the amount of bastards that were running around Dorne.

He loved his nieces, and he imagined that he would also love any children that his brother saw fit to bring back to live with him, but the gods knew that he could do with as few of the little headaches as possible.

He also ordered that some food be brought up, something large and something quick. Oberyn needed to eat, and something filling. He would leave the details of what to make to the head cook, a fat woman who had been a kitchen wench under his grandfather when he had been the prince of Dorne, had become a cook during his grandfather's last days and became the head cook when his mother had become the princess of Dorne.

The old woman had always been kind to him, through she had always favoured Oberyn and Elia over him, just like everyone else seemed too. She always had some lemon cakes left over for him, he had always been fond of the sweet little cakes. The tartness of them caused his mouth to tingle and the feeling had always caused him to laugh.

She would knew what to make to fill Oberyn, and to cheer him.

He walked through the halls of the Water Gardens, Aero his constant shadow, he reached his destination and pushed open the door. As soon as he did a small dark sharp rushed at him, before it was even half way to him Aero was there, moving with a quickness that his size did not suggest that he had and his meaty hand came down and grasped tightly around Obara's arm.

"Let me go! Let me go! Let me go or I swear I'll kill you! I will shove that axe of yours up your-

"Obara Sand, enough!" Aero Hotah roared, the sheer volume of his voice was enough to make Obara stop struggling as she looked up at Aero, her face had turn pale. "You are in the presence of your uncle, your prince and you forget yourself. Now calm down! And offer your aplogies and pray to whatever god you like that he accepts."

Obara's face had turned red from the telling off through it was clearly due to anger instead of embarrassment, no child liked to be told off after all and no Dornish child did, certainly not a Sand Snake. She tried to pull away from his grip again but it was clear that she was not going to get loose from Aero's hold.

She looked down at her feet for a moment and let out a sound that was a mix between a growl and scream before she ripped her head back up, her viper eyes meeting Doran's. "I am sorry uncle, please forgive me. I was angry, I didn't mean to do that."

Doran could not stop himself from frowning, the girl had to practically spit the apology out of her mouth. She had all the anger of her father in her and her own to pile on top of, Nymeria and Tyene at least seemed to take after their mothers in temperament, through he was certain that when they were worth it was just as dangerous.

"I am not pleased Obara, I am not pleased at all. The servants have told me about how poorly you have been behaving, throwing your food at the walls. Screaming and hammering at the doors, and Lorna told me that you bit her! You may not be a princess Obara, but you still have Martell blood and this is not acceptable." Doran said, not even bothering to speak to her as her uncle, only as the prince of Dorne.

Oberyn was terrible when his anger was raised but when he was calm then he was perfectly reasonable, Doran could speak to him as his brother most of the time and could deal with any problems that way. He very rarely needed to be the Prince, not even with Oberyn.

But Obara always seemed to be angry, Doran had certainly never seen her happy, or at least not truly. The only time she seemed anything close to content when she was sparing. When she had a spear in one hand and a whip in the other, beating men twice her size into the dirt.

"They wouldn't let me out." Obara muttered, looking down at her feet again. Aero let go of her arm but he did not step away from her, the girl crossed her arms. Perhaps wishing her had a shield to bare instead. "They wouldn't let me see Father either, or Nymeria or Tyene."

"They are all well, and you may see them in a little while but I need you to understand that what you did was wrong." Doran let out a sigh and knelt down, ignoring the sharp pain that ripped through his legs and the sharp look that Aero levelled on to him, he needed to look Obara in the eye. "You've killed a man Obara, do you understand that?"

"I've killed no one." Obara said, and she looked confused. Doran supposed that made a little sense, the man hadn't been dead at the time after all.

"You stabbed a man in the eye, Obara. What did you think was going to happen to him?" Doran asked her, speaking to her as if she was child that was half her age. "It's not an injury that most men walk away from, he died in agony. That man served me loyally, served this family loyally. What do you say to this?"

"That man should not have tried to stop me. You shouldn't have ordered those men to try and stop us, we were going to save Aunt Elia even if you weren't. We haven't forgotten about her, Dorne hasn't forgotten about her." Obara said and it was clear to Doran that she meant every word of it. "We will fight for her, even if you won't. We give our family the justice that you refuse to seek."

"And what of the man you killed Obara? Does he not deserve justice? What of the two men that your father killed? They were killed by the both of you, the man you killed had a wife in the Shadow City, she's with child. When that child is born, does it not deserve to come after you? To seek it's vengeance."

"When it's grown, I'll be bigger. And it's welcome to come and try." Doran sighed at the declaration, he supposed that he shouldn't have expected any better than that. "Perhaps the child won't need too, I did kill a man in your service. Perhaps you will send it my head as a gift for it's first name day."

"No, I will not do that. Because despite everything, you are still my niece and I still love you. I've kept you away from your father and your sisters for a very long time, it's not enough but it will have to serve as your punishment. You will not be allowed to leave the Water Gardens for a time, not till I can be sure that you can be trusted. And do not expect your spear back, do you understand?"

"I understand, my prince." Obara spat, her voice full of venom as her eyes burned. "Is there anything else?"

"You are to have a bath, I will have some food sent up to you and then have someone bring you to your sisters and your father. I warn you to be very careful now Obara, if you try anything. Then I promise you that I will send you back to Sunspear and leave you to rot in the Spear Tower until Arianne is the princess. And that's only if I decided not to send you to Ghaston Grey." Doran watched as the girl's eyes widened and for the first time since in the conversation had started, he saw the tiniest hint of fear.

And how not? Ghaston Grey was a fate worse than death, most agreed. A tiny island in the Dornish sea, more a rock actually with an old crumbling castle perched atop it which at any moment looked like it was going to tumble into the sea. Only the most terrible of traitors and the vilest of criminals were sent there, when they heard their sentence most begged for death. It would be a kinder fate than being sent to that hell.

"You wouldn't do that, not to me." Obara said through all the confidence she seemed to have only a few moments ago had fled her. "I might have killed a man but Ghaston Grey is only for the worst of criminals, people who've murdered hundreds, people who have threatened to over throw our house. Rapers. You would not send me there, I know you wouldn't."

Perhaps Obara was smarter than she seemed, Doran would never even consider sending the girl to that place but the girl did not and that served it's purpose just as well. "You've killed one man already Obara, the only difference between one man and a hundred is two numbers. You capable enough of killing, I've seen that."

"Do not push your luck, do you understand me?"

"I understand uncle." The anger and the venom were gone as well, perhaps this had been the first time he had ever seen his niece truly afraid. He did not relish seeing it, he did not relishing being the cause of it. But if it kept her under control and made her realise the seriousness of what she had done then he would be able to cope with it.

"Good, bathe and eat your food. And remember all that I have said to you." Obara nodded and Doran nodded in reply before he turned and left the room, he asked Aero to find a servant to give orders about Obara's food and bath, the larger man seemed uncertain about leaving his side but he knew better than to question an order from his prince.

When Aero had left his side Doran continued down through the streets to reach his final destination, each step was an agony but he savoured every single pain. He did not doubt the Maester's final result, that he would lose all use of his legs before too long. He hadn't cried when he had been told, what would have been the point? He would not lose his life and he had things to do.

He would still have his life, and he would still have his mind. His mind was the very best part of him, he would be nothing without that. Through the idea of never being able to run after Arianne and Quentyn again hurt him in ways that he could not even begin to describe.

His thoughts turned to Mellario, his wife had fallen in love with a foreign prince who had swept her off of her feet. The night they had met they had danced for hours and hours, from the end of her father's feast that he had held to welcome him, all the way to morning's first light. He hadn't even felt tired, he had never loved anymore.

Mellario was still back in Sunspear, passion had faded as soon as she had come to Dorne and love had taken it's place for a while but even that seemed to have faded now. She loved their children, that was her only comfort now. She was not Dornish, she didn't understand Dorne. She didn't understand what was required of her.

He had sent Arianne and Quentyn back to Sunspear with their septa when he had Oberyn and all the rest of them imprisoned, he did not want to see them scared when all the guards had come to patrol the Water Gardens, nor did he want to deal with all the questions if he was going to be honest. At any one time Arianne seemed to have a thousand of them, and no doubt she would demand to see her cousins. Tyene especially.

He could almost picture Mellario's face lighting up when she greeted their children in the courtyard outside the old palace, even when love still existed between the both of them it was always clear to him that his wife loved their children far more than she had ever loved him. He had never held that against her, he loved Arianne and Quentyn more than his wife as well.

But as the love had faded over the years it had hurt him more than his legs had ever hurt him, he always told himself that he would always make it up to her. That the love would come back and burn as bright as the sun did once again, but it never had.

He had to be the prince more often than he had been able to be a husband, he wondered if Mellario had understood what it meant to marry a prince, all those days ago back in Norvos. They had gotten caught up in one another, they were all they could really see. Except...Mellario hadn't even him, not all of him.

She had seen Doran Martell, she had never seen the man his mother had made of him. She had never seen the man who would have to become the Prince of Dorne. She hadn't fallen in love with him, that was the truth of it. Perhaps they had been doomed from that first night.

He loved Arianne, he loved Quentyn, and he would never change a single thing about either of them, even who their mother was but he was older now, wiser. He shouldn't have married Mellario, she barely knew what was required of her and everything he needed her to do was always a fight.

They hadn't danced since before Arianne had been born, even when his legs were still working and he was still healthy. Now they would never dance again, even if he could and they would certain never dance all night again. He knew that the time was coming that his wife would want to return to Norvos, he would not stop her. He never wanted her to be unhappy, not ever, not for a moment.

But he also knew that she would try and take his children and he could not allow that, he would not allow that and that would be the thing that would finally break them. Mellario would never forgive him for that.

He shook his head to try and rid himself of those thoughts, his mind seemed more and more attuned to melancholy as of late and he did not like it. Still, considering the shambles that everything had fallen too lately it wasn't much of a surprise.

Thankfully, falling deep into those thoughts had at least made the walk seem to take little time at all and he had barely seemed to notice the pain. He pushed open the door and for the first time he was able to smile at the sight that greeted him on the other side.

Nymeria was perched in a seat with a large book in her lap, it looked to be the book that told the history of the Warrior Queen who Nymeria shared a name with and her ten thousand ships that landed in Dorne, it was a popular tale in Dorne and every single child in Dorne knew at least some of the history of it, if not all of it.

Tyene was sitting in the lap of the septa that his brother had brought to help raise his children and Doran had been so grateful that his brother had seen wisdom in this, he knew that his brother loved his daughters but he was not best when it came to discipline, not that there was much that could be done for Obara. Nothing that a septa could do anyway.

"Hello Uncle." Nymeria said with a pleasant little hum as she closed the heavy book and placed it on the table next to her chair. The girl leapt out of her chair and landed gracefully on her feet before she turned to look at Doran, her dark eyes narrowing slightly. "Might we come out now? Those same four walls are driving me quite mad."

"I'd like to go swimming Uncle, I like swimming." Tyene said as she kicked her feet back and forth happily, the septa scolded her lightly but the girl did not stop and Doran wondered if anyone could truly discipline them. "I'd like to see Arianne as well, I miss her."

"And I am sure that she misses you sweetling, but she's in Sunspear at the moment." The revelation caused tears to well up in the small girl's blue eyes and Doran felt terrible about it, Tyene was only little more than a babe and he did not enjoy the fact that he had to confine her to these chambers.

Arianne had not been happy with his decision either, she and Tyene were the closest in age and was the closest thing that Arianne had to a sister. Twice she had been caught trying to sneak into the chambers before Doran had decided to send her and her brother back to Sunspear.

"I've missed Arianne as well uncle." Nymeria said as she crossed her arms across her chest, stepping forward ever so slightly but Doran knew that when it came to Nym he had nothing to fear, she had a temper of course but it was nothing compared to her older sister or her father and she had a cooler head than both of them. "And little Quentyn as well, might we see them soon?"

"I think that can be arranged, I've dealt with the little problem that I had and you two can finally come out of your chamber now. If you want I'll send you both on to Sunspear in a little while, I am sure Arianne and Quentyn would be glad to you."

It would probably be for the best if the two of them were sent off to Sunspear for a bit, it might warn both Oberyn and Obara what they stood to lose if they acted against him again. Not right away of course, the little family had been separated enough for now and they deserved at least a little time together.

"I miss Papa, and Bara. Can we see them now uncle?" Tyene's voice brought Doran's attention back to her and Doran realised how truly unfair it had all been on her, Tyene, and Nymeria, had done nothing wrong and yet they had to be punished as well do to their father and their sister's foolishness.

He would make it up to them, he would see to that.

"They are a little busy at the moment sweetling, but they will be here very soon. Why don't you speak to me in the meantime, is that the book of the Seven?" He already knew that it was but all children needed some encouragement, and small children loved to believe that they knew things that grown men and women did not and they could explain it to them.

He remembered the day that he finally learned to recite the names of all of the Targaryen Kings since Aegon the Conqueror, he had run to his mother and recited them all for her, he had smiled so much when she had applauded him and handed him a sweet as a reward.

It was only looking back that he realised that his mother would have already known that he could have done that, she spoke with the Maester every day about his lessons, she took great interest in them as she needed to make sure that her heir was prepared for everything.

But that hadn't mattered at the time, his mother had smiled at him when he had asked her if he could come in and her smile had only grown as he recited every king in their proper place and did not mispronounce a single name. When he had finished she had gasped, as through he had grown wings and flew around the room, and had him a lemon cake from her plate and his father, who Doran loved but his memories were few and faded, had scooped him up and pressed a kiss to his dark curls.

It had been one of the happiest days of his life.

"Yes, Uncle." Tyene said happily as her septa picked her up and placed her down on the ground, she clutched the book, nearly as big as she was, close to her chest. "Septa was reading it to me, but she wasn't doing it right. Mother read it better, she used to read it to me when I was very small."

"All ladies of noble birth should read the Seven Pointed Star Tyene, it is the true path to the gods. You should see to it that you always live by it's teachings." The girl's septa said with a gentle smile, while Doran had no doubt that Nymeria and Tyene could be handfuls it was clear to him that the plump woman was quite fond of them, it was always better if a Septa liked the girls she was sworn to take care off as was not always the case. "It is good that your lady mother read it to you, she might find forgiveness for her sins if she instils the teachings of the faith in you."

"Mother wasn't a lady Septa Constance, she was like you." Tyene said with a happy smile, Doran frowned heavily as the look of confusion appeared on the Septa's face and Nymeria came forward and was about to drag her sister away before she said anything else. "She was a septa, she meet father when she came to Dorne to help people and then she had me."

Doran watched and had to stifle a groan as the look of confusion on the septa's face turned into one of horror as she realised exactly what her youngest charge was saying to her. He always knew that this would become a problem one day, Septa Constance didn't approve of her charges being bastards but she knew that Dorne saw things differently so more often than not she simply ignored the fact that her charges were bastards.

But now that she knew Tyene's mother was a septa, and had been a septa when she laid with Oberyn then it made things more difficult for Doran, especially considering his plans.

Before he had to consider if he would have to place the septa under house arrest, again. The door to the room opened and Oberyn strolled into the room, his beard had been cut through it was still longer than it had been when Doran had confined him to his chamber and his hair had been cut to a similar length to what it had been. He had changed his clothes and he seemed much healthier than it had, through Doran doubted that it had little to do with the food the cook had made and the bath he had.

"Papa!" Tyene cried as she ran towards her father and Oberyn reached down to scoop her up as he pressed a kiss to her golden curls, Nymeria did not run to her father but Doran could tell that she wished too as she walked over to him and hugged her father's leg. "We've missed you! Why didn't you come and see us?"

Oberyn lifted his head from Tyene's hair and shot a glare at Doran, Doran knew that his brother wouldn't truly be forgiving him for keeping him from his daughters for awhile but so long as his brother remained obedient and didn't act without his approval or oversight again then he could bare a grudge against him for as long as he liked.

"I've missed you as well my sweet, and you my little lady." Oberyn said as he brought his hand down on to Nymeria's head and gently ruffled her black hair, causing her braid to swing side to side. "Your uncle had an important task for me that could not wait, but I am back now and I won't leave you for a very long while. I promise."

Tyene seemed content to accept her father's explanation as she relaxed into her father's hold but Nymeria seemed more suspicious which did not surprise Doran, of his brother's three daughters Nymeria was the most intelligent but thankfully she was also intelligent enough to know not to question it at the moment so she simply kept holding on to her father's leg.

The door to the chambers opened again and Obara walked in, Aero at her back. Doran was glad of that, he didn't want Obara wandering the halls of the Water Gardens alone. He was fairly certain that she wouldn't try anything when she saw the number of guards that patrolled the palace now but it was better than to be safe than sorry, it always was when Obara was concerned.

She was dressed in a silk shirt and brown breeches, not exactly ladylike attire but Doran wasn't expecting anything else. "Where have you been?" Nymeria asked as she released her father and walked over to her older sister, when it came to Obara the only person aside from her father who could deal with her was her sister.

"Shut up Nym, I'm not in the mood." Obara stormed past her sister and stood at her father's side, Her father looked down at her and stared into her eyes. Doran realised then and there that the two of them truly did have the same eyes, all of the Sand Snakes had their father's eyes of course but Obara was the only one who shared their colour with her father.

After a few moments of silence Oberyn shook his head and Obara let out a sigh and stormed away from her father and climbed into the chair that Nymeria had vacated and seemed resolved to sulk for the moment. When Septa Constance noticed the girl doing so she stared sternly at her and looked as through she was going to rebuke her but then she remembered that it wasn't Tyene or Nymeria so she turned her attention to a piece of needlework that laid forgotten in her lap.

For several hours then the Water Gardens fell into something that it had not seen in far too long a time, peace. Doran had almost forgotten what it was like. The only noise that filled the chamber were the giggles of Tyene and the occasional chuckle from Oberyn.

Even Obara seemed to come out of her foul mood after Nymeria showed her a new game she had learned, using one of her daggers to stab the space around her fingers without ever hitting them, the silver dagger that her father had given to her on her last nameday nothing but a blur. The septa scoffed at the sight but she knew better than to try and scold them.

Doran loved it, loved them. In that moment he remembered that he loved his brother, that he loved his nieces. All he did he did for them, and for Elia, and Arianne and Quentyn and even Mellario. It was all for them, even if they didn't understand that sometimes what was best for them, for the family might seem to be what was worst.

Soon the sky had turned black and Tyene had fallen asleep and Nymeria's eyes began to drop in tiredness. The septa took them both out of the chamber and Aero was commanded to take Obara to her chamber. "Might you tuck me in and bring me some warm milk, Septa Hotah?" The girl mocked as she leapt out of her chair.

Aero did not bite, his face was a mask of stone as he lead the girl out of the room. Doran stood up from his seat, clutching his walking stick as he looked down at Oberyn. "You and I have some more things to talk about, come with me."

"What do we need to speak off? I heard your warnings, this won't happen again. I give you my word."

"We still have plenty that we need to talk about, but not here. Come with me to my Solar." Oberyn rolled his shoulders before he stood out of the chair he was sitting before he followed Doran out of the chamber, it did not take them long to reach Doran's solar but by the time they had reached Doran's legs felt like they were burning.

He bit his lip so hard that the taste of copper filled his mouth, he had walked too much. He had pushed it when he shouldn't have. He would need milk of the poppy if he was going to sleep tonight and though he was tempted to call for some now he knew that he couldn't.

Milk of the poppy dulled the wits of even the sharpest of men and Oberyn was not a stupid man, it would not take much for him to trick him in that state to go along with anything he wanted. Of course Oberyn had given him his word that he would not try anything again but if he made him go along with something then he couldn't say he was going against his wishes.

And if Oberyn got him to write a letter while his wits were dull then he could ride to Sunspear and raise a host, milk of the poppy didn't just dull his wits but it also tired him, he was often confined to a bed for days and days after. By the time he was restored then Oberyn could have half of Dorne past the Red Mountains, and beyond Doran's reach.

Doran would not have that, he would not allow that. The pain in his legs was nothing compared to the pain that might come down on to Dorne.

Oberyn sat down in the seat across from Doran and took one of the flatbreads that Doran had not eaten off of the plate and took a few bites of it, Doran did not mind. He didn't have much of an appetite anymore regardless and Oberyn, despite looking healthier than he had, was still too thin for Doran to be comfortable and so he pushed the plate more towards his brother before he poured him a glass from the half full pitcher of wine.

"You're very generous this evening, especially considering I was you prisoner not so very long ago." Despite his words Oberyn took the glass of wine from Doran's hand and used it to wash the flatbread down, he swirled the wine in the glass for a moment before he looked back up at Doran. "So, what did you use to poison the wine? Tears of Lys? Basilisk venom?"

"I didn't poison your food Oberyn."

"It was a joke, dear brother. You really do need to learn to laugh, to be honest I wouldn't even be angry with you. For trying to poison me at any rate, if I found out that you tried to use my own poison against me then I would be quite upset. After all, trying to use a man's own poison to kill him? That's simply poor manners."

"I am not in the mood Oberyn, I have released you from your chambers and you still have my love but do not think that means I have forgiven you. For I have not, you came too me with an army at your back." The anger that Doran thought he had forgotten came surging back to him, drowning out the pain.

"Hardly an army big brother, a few men who came to beg that you would see sense and allow us to go to Elia." Oberyn finished his wine and slammed the glass back down on to the table, the force was so great that it caused a crack to splinter the glass. "Enough of this, I gave you my word that I would not attempt something like that again and I meant it. What do you wish for us to speak off?"

For a time Doran stared at Oberyn, a little unsure of how much he should tell him. After a few long moments he knew that he had to tell him something, if he didn't then he knew that Oberyn would try something if it truly did look like he was still doing nothing. "The high septon is dead, the king had burned alive in front of the entire royal court. Prince Rhaegar and Princess Cersei have fled to dragonstone."

For perhaps the first time in his life Doran had managed to surprised Oberyn, his little brother stared at him like he had grown a second head and Doran could understand why. It was hard to believe, though perhaps it shouldn't be when all the insane things that the mad king had done lately. Elia had only been the top of a very tall mountain.

"He really is mad, isn't he?" Oberyn finally breathed out before he reached out and filled his glass back up with the pitcher of wine and took a sip from the glass. "He's killed the High Septon? That is not going to go down well."

"No it will not, this one was...decent. As far as septons can go, many in King's Landing liked him." Doran poured himself a glass of water from the other pitcher and took a sip of that. "Many in the faith aren't very happy either, especially considering that Aerys is trying to appoint one of his pets as the new High Septon."

"Many in the faith are unhappy about that, there are whispers at work. Talk of the Faith Militant being reformed, and not just by lowly septons. There is talk among the most devout themselves." Doran let out a little sight. "In truth, the idea of reforming the Faith Militant causes me some concern, we've been better off without them and we would need to find a way to deal with them but it would be at the very least helpful in the short term."

"And...they know they have a friend in the Prince of Dorne, a devout member of the faith."

"How do you know all of this?" Oberyn asked with a raised eyebrow before he held up his hand to stop Doran from answering him. "I know that you have spies in King's Landing, not as many as the spider but enough to know a deal of what is happening at all times. But knowing what members of the faith are saying? The most devout? That requires access that your spies don't have."

"Who said anything about spies, even in the homes of enemies we can find allies. And not even a member of the most devout, would dare to refuse the summons of a queen." Doran smiled as he watched his brother's eyes grow wide, he decided he quite liked shocking his brother. He could get used to it.

Oberyn was quiet for a few moments before he spoke again. "There's something I need to tell you, on the day that Elia and her husband arrived in King's Landing, Ned and I left her with the girls. I wanted to get to know our good brother, while we were gone Rhaegar Targaryen paid a visit to her. He gave her some letters which she gave to us the night of that fucking tourney, we read them, memorized them and burned them."

"Rhaegar Targaryen isn't blind to what his father is, at the very least. He's working with Tywin Lannister to overthrow his father and I think that he is trying to get the other lords of Westeros to back him in this coup of his."

Doran felt all the air rush out of his lungs, it seemed that even now his brother could always outdo him. "Why...Why did you not say anything about this to me before!?" This changed a great deal of things, he needed to write to Lord Rickard and to Lord Arryn and Lord Hoster as soon as possible.

"I didn't think that we could trust the Lannisters, Cersei is going to be the queen and Tywin Lannister was the former hand of the king." Doran wanted to slap him, how could such a smart man be so utterly stupid? He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes.

"Oberyn, you needed to tell me this. I needed to know this!" He stopped rubbing his eyes and looked at his brother. "It's done now, we can't do anything about it now. "Now we need to work, and we need to be patient. We are getting Elia back but we have to do this smart, the true obstacle to her getting home is the king. And obstacles are better off...removed."

Oberyn stared at him in surprise for a few moments before a smirk started to slowly spread across his face and he lifted his glass to his brother, toasting his as the wine slipped out of the crack in the glass and stained his fingers. Doran raised his glass of water and took a sip of it.

And people thought that Oberyn was the dangerous one.

End of Chapter Thirty-Six

* * *

 **Welp, here we are with another chapter.**

 **It was important for me to show how Doran was dealing with things in Dorne, both with lords and ladies and his own family. Speaking of which I've changed one of the genres, instead of being romance/family this story is now romance/drama.**

 **Family is still an important them but I think drama is a more important theme.**

 **Please leave a review, a follow and a favourite. Constructive criticism is welcome.**

 **Next chapter should be from Ned's perspective.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	37. Chapter 37

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The snows had come again, through thankfully it was nothing compared to the snow storms that had been battering Winterfell before now. Still, it had been falling steadily and it had covered the godswood like a blanket, the noise of the castle beyond the wood had faded like an echo.

Ned wasn't cold, due to the fact that he was wearing two very thick furs and had a torch clasped in his hand, it's burning flame a beacon through the snow. He had decided to get a head start, with the pretext that he wanted to make sure that the servants had all of the torches set up, but the truth of it was that he simply wanted to be alone.

It was for the best, he wasn't the best of company at the moment. The castle and the great hall were places of joy and he did not want to sup any of that, he did not think he would be able too. If he was to be honest then at the moment any joy he might feel felt like it would be something of a betrayal.

How could he be happy when his wife was so far away? Trapped and pregnant with his child. He couldn't be, that was the truth of it. It was a melancholy thought but as of late they seemed to be the only thoughts that he ever had anymore.

His family had not been blind to his poor mood as of late, Brandon had said that if he had silver hair and purple eyes then all he would need was a harp and a pout on his face and everyone would think that he was Rhaegar Targaryen. Ned loved his brother but at that moment in time it took everything he had to stop him from punching him in the face, he was certain that a good punch in the face might actually improve his attitude.

He hadn't done that of course, Brandon was a pain in his side and even more of a headache than Lyanna was but he was still his brother. Ned still loved him.

It was partly due to that love that had taken on this willing exile into the godswood, it was Brandon and Catelyn's night and he did not wish to spoil it for them. It had been agreed that the marriage would be held off out of kindness for Ned and Elia's plight, in truth Ned hadn't quite seen the point of it at the time, the kind gesture wouldn't get Elia back. He wasn't sure what could do that.

Still, he had appreciated the gesture for what it was while it had lasted. It had not lasted long however as soon enough a letter arrived from Riverrun, Hoster Tully was getting anxious about the fact that his daughter had not yet been married but was still living with her betrothed, gossip was beginning to spread around the Riverlands, Brandon's reputation was well known, much to their father's ire and the nature of the gossip had not been kind to Lady Catelyn.

And thus the last Raven from the Riverlands came with a demand that the wedding go ahead or he would send men to have Catelyn brought back to Riverrun and have the entire betrothal called off. That had been the end of it and the wedding was put back on.

Lady Catelyn had apologized for her father's harsh words but Ned could tell that she was glad that her marriage was to proceed, Ned did not begrudged her that. She had only come this far to marry Brandon and now she had been forced to wait simply out of sympathy for him and Elia.

At least she waited out of actual sympathy, it had been Brandon who had insisted on holding the marriage off and while Ned loved his brother he doubted that he had done it for altruistic reasons. His brother did not want to marry, it wasn't a flaw that he found in Lady Catelyn he just didn't want to marry at all.

It hadn't taken Ned long to figure that out and when he had he wanted to punch his dear older brother in the face, he had used his and Elia's misfortune for his own benefit. For the first time in his life Ned could truly say that he hated his brother. Ned didn't think that he had hated anyone before in his entire life.

But then as soon as he had thought that he remembered that the entire reason was happening was because of Jaime Lannister and then he remembered that he did indeed hate someone before he hated Brandon. His thoughts had been drifting quite a bit Jaime Lannister of late.

He had been dreaming about that moment when Jaime had placed that damn flower crown on top of Elia's head, he had wanted to reach out take it from her head and burn it to ashes but something stopped him from reaching out and taking it from her, it felt like his arms were being pinned to his sides by some sort of force.

From then on the dreams always turned out differently, sometimes the stands would empty and it would just be him and Elia in them with Ser Jaime sitting on his horse in his armour made of gilded steel. Then he would laugh in her face and draw back his lance and shove it through her heart.

Other dreams would have all the men and women in the stands burst into flames and Ned would lose sight of Elia in the smoke and while all of them were terrifying the one which struck a deep chord in him was when Jaime placed the crown on her head he would then lean down and press a kiss to her lips, and Elia would place her hand on the back of his head and drew him into a deeper kiss.

Before Ned knew what was happening, Elia was on the back of Jaime's horse with her arms wrapped around his middle and her eyes closed in bliss as they rode off into the distance. He would try to follow them, he would always try and follow them but no matter how hard he tried it seemed that he was never able to reach them.

When he had been a boy Old Nan had always used to tell him that all dreams were portents of the future, in one way or another. He had never used to believe her, he doubted that his dream about the moon turning into a giant wolf head was an omen of the future nor the one about fighting a knight with a fish tale where his legs should be.

But ever since he had the dream he had been worried, most of his bad dreams would plague his nights for weeks and weeks to come but the one had only occurred the once. That had thrown him and dread had been a constant companion as of late, he tried his hardest to cling on to memories of Elia so that he wouldn't forget her but it had been so long since he had seen her face.

He was beginning to worry that he would never be able to get her back. His father had promised that she had not been forgotten about but until his father was ready to make his move then Ned was forced to wait and with each day that passed he grew less and less certain that he would ever see Elia again.

He shook his head and took in a deep breath of the cool night air, trying to clear his mind of all his thoughts. The godswood was empty now as he had ordered the few servants that were still working to get everything ready back to the castle once they had finished, it had helped that he had tempted them with the idea of some spiced wine to warm them on this coldest of nights.

Ned slowly approached the weirwood tree, the light of his touch was reflected by the snow flakes as they fell, coating Ned in a comforting orange blanket. He knelt in front the weirwood, sticking his torch firmly in the snow. Once he was certain that it would not fall over he turned to stare at the carved face, the shadows cast by his torch danced across the weirwood's face.

He closed his eyes and listened, the wind blowing gently around him. He began to pray, he prayed for Elia's safe return and for her health and the health of their babe. He prayed for his to think clearly and act as soon as he was ready, he prayed this his mother was at rest, he prayed that Brandon would finally grow up and he would have a happy union, if only for Lady Catelyn's sake and he prayed because he thought that it might make him feel better.

Sadly, it didn't seem to and Ned let out a sigh as he opened his eyes and stared deep into the weirwood's eyes as it wept it's red tears. It was odd, he found the sight somewhat comforting. A weirwood only wept because it was alive and that thought cheered Ned, he was hurt but he wasn't dead and Elia was lost but she wasn't dead either. There was always hope.

It was odd but as he knelt silently in front of the weirwood, the wind almost seemed to sound like Elia. Delicate, but with a hidden strength that only a fool would underestimate and he could almost swear that he could catch a hint of her scent in the air, oranges and warm spices and the sun.

"I thought that you were already married? At any rate I thought that this was my wedding day." Ned breathed heavily before he picked up his touch and stood before turning to face his brother and the rest of his family.

Brandon was dressed in a black doublet and pale grey trousers and black boots with a grey cloak on his back that would soon take the place of Catelyn's bridal cloak, his brother's beard had been trimmed but was still large and more present than Ned's and as always looked handsome as ever.

Their father stood next to him and was dress in similar clothes to Brandon but his black doublet was fringed with grey and his hair had been pulled back into a tight bun. Ned would never say it out loud but he was somewhat concerned about his father being out in the cold, while most of his strength had returned to him since his heart attack the Maester was concerned that he could suffer another one due to the many stressful events as of late.

Still, his father was as stubborn as a mule and Ned didn't now wish to add to his stress by making a fight of it. He seemed better and now that he was finally getting Brandon married he actually seemed to be happy and he didn't want to ruin that for him.

Lyanna was standing behind her father and brother was wearing a dress of night black and adorned her neck with a simple silver chain with a small sapphire set into it, her black hair pulled back into a simple bun with two strands of dark hair falling down past her neck. She also was wearing a thick fur around her.

Benjen was standing next to Lyanna and was dress in basically the same that their father was wearing, he seemed to have little interest in what was happening as he kept his gaze low to his feet as his hand played with the hilt of his new sword, their father having finally allowed him to carry real steel instead of a practice sword. Ned tried to stop himself from smirking when he noticed Lyanna giving Benjen an envious glare.

"Brandon. Leave your brother alone." Their father ordered and Ned hated how he could so easily make him feel like he was a boy again, desperate for his approval. Lord Rickard glanced around the godswood, taking in all of the torches and other adornments before he gave a satisfied nod. "Excellent, just as a wedding should be."

"I don't remember Elia and Ned's wedding being the fancy, I mean yes we invited the banners and we had a feast but we didn't see the need to do up the godswood and the ceremony was private." Lyanna said as she knelt down and began to scoop up some snow and started to form it in to a ball. "Why are we going all in for this one?"

"Brandon is my first born, a certain sense of ceremony is required." Rickard plucked the finish snowball out of her hands and dropped it to the ground, with a glare he silenced her complaint before he turned to focus on Brandon. He reached out with both his hands and cupped his face as he stared into his eyes. "You are my son and I love you, and there aren't words for how proud I am of you. I know you don't want this but this is the way it's meant to be, you'll understand one day."

Brandon had turned pale and his eyes had gone wide and Ned could understand why, he didn't think he had ever seen his father act like this before in his entire life. Rickard Stark had never been open with his affection before so to see him like this was beyond odd, and while it was childish Ned couldn't stop a fire of envy from starting in his gut as his father had never acted like this when it had been his wedding.

Rickard pulled away and went to stand next to Lyanna, as soon as he stood next to her many lords and ladies began to fill into the godswood. Umber, Karstark, Bolton, Mormont, Ryswell, Dustin, Cerwyn, Hornwood, Locke, Manderly and a dozen other lords and ladies from other smaller houses from all over the north and they had all come for Brandon.

Once all the guests had taken their places silence descended on to the godswood and soon the sound of footsteps filled the air, Lady Catelyn strode into the clearing dressed in a white gown with sleeves of Myrish Lace and a white hood pulled over her red hair to shield herself from the snowfall, as she stepped closer to the weirwood she pulled down her hood to reveal her hair which had been done up in a southern style with small white diamonds woven through out her hair.

Hanging from her shoulders was the red and blue Tully cloak that would soon be replaced with the Stark cloak, as Lady Catelyn strode closer and closer to the weirwood Ned was certain that he could hear the muttering of various lords and ladies growing louder.

His father marrying off his three eldest children to southerners had not been a popular decision, Ned was married to a Dornish woman and that was as far south as south could get after all. Benjen was the only one left who was not betrothed and while he was certain that his father was going to marry him to a daughter of a northern house that did little to please the lords.

It didn't help that Lady Catelyn's dress was...clearly expensive, the North was the poorest of the seven kingdoms, right after Dorne, and while a certain amount of leeway was given when it was a wedding no northern house would spend the amount of money that had clearly been spent on that dress.

And soon she was going to be their future lady which Ned doubted would improve their mood at all, he knew that it wasn't fair and Lady Catelyn was a sweet woman who deserved a chance but most Northmen didn't hold any southerners in any high regard and now one of them would be their lady once his father had died.

Catelyn finally came to a stop in front of the weirwood tree and Brandon and Rickard went to stand in front of her. Rickard cleared his throat and soon all eyes were on him but he only had his eyes on Lady Catelyn. "Who is it who comes before the old gods this night?"

"Catelyn, of the House Tully, comes here to be wed. I am a woman grown, trueborn and noble. I have come to beg the blessings of the gods. Who is it who comes to claim me?" Catelyn spoke the words softly but with a certainty as well, Ned didn't think he could possess the sort of woman's courage that she had, Elia had it as well as did his mother.

Ned wished that Brandon knew how lucky he truly was, how blessed. He didn't think that his brother did though.

"Brandon, of the House Stark. Heir to Winterfell and the blood of the kings of winter, does come to claim her." Brandon said as he stepped forward and smiled down at his wife, being nearly a foot taller than her helped with that. "Who is it that gives her?"

"I give myself in the name of my father, at his command. Bitter snows and harsh waters dived us but all I do, I do in his name for the honour of my house." In the glow of the torchlight Ned thought that he could see tears welling in Catelyn's eyes but she did not allow them to fall and Ned felt his heart swelling in pity for her, it could not be easy to be wed so very far away from your home with your family unable to attend.

Elia at least had Ashara and it had been the Dornish noblewoman who had given her to Ned. It was just then that he realised that woman was nowhere to be seen anywhere in the clearing and that made Ned frown, she had not been ordered to attend but he had hoped that she would. At times it felt that she and her daughter were the only other people that cared that Elia was not here even if he knew that wasn't true.

But now that he thought about it was perhaps for the best that she was not here, his ears still rung with the revelation that Brandon had bestowed on to him that he was the father of Lady Ashara's bastard daughter. Ned did not think that the Lady Ashara would do anything foolish but he truly could not say the same for Brandon and the girl had enough northern features that it was possible that their bannermen might begin to ask questions.

Father didn't know but Ned didn't doubt that he suspected, he often spent quite a bit of time with the girl and would often spend it studying her face. The girl had grey eyes and a familiar looking nose but that alone didn't truly mean anything but he got the sense that his father was glad that for the moment Ashara and her daughter had chosen to stay in the castle.

The sound of applause drew Ned out of his thoughts and he realised with a start that he had missed the rest of the ceremony and Catelyn was now standing to her feet with his bridal cloak discard and replaced with the Stark one. A warm smile spread on her face and she reached down to interlock her fingers with Brandon's.

After the applause had died down the wedding party began to make their way back to Winterfell, chatting amongst themselves about anything and everything. It did not take them long to arrive back at Winterfell and once they did they all made their way into the feast hall where Ned and the rest of his family took their place at the high table on the dais.

A few others had been invited to sit on the high table with them as guests of honour, Lord Wyman Mannderly was one of them, his father had never liked him and he once called him a southerner who pretended to be a northman but he was also one of the most powerful bannermen as the lord of the only city in the North, besides Lady Catelyn seemed to like him and he entertained her with his ideas of holding a tourney in White Harbor.

Jorah Mormont was another one, as far as Ned could tell the man had been invited to sit at the high table to celebrate his new lordship since his father had gone to the Wall. Ned wasn't sure why but he did not like the man, he couldn't say why exactly but he seemed almost a little too at ease to him.

The first course came soon enough, a rabbit stew that had been thickened with carrots and onions and mushrooms all which swam in a thick brown gravy, served with a loaf of thick black bread. After that had come the fish, brought straight from the fish markets of White Harbour, then came a large pie stuffed with pork and filled with every vegetable that Ned knew the name of, by that point he was full and had put his fork down.

Still food came, another pie which was smaller than the last one and stuffed with beef and laced with bacon came out and Ned knew he had to take at least a view bites of it and once that was gone it came time for the sweet. It was a large cake, the size of a wheel that was filled with warm spices that made the tongue tingle and fruit that filled your mouth with juice as you bit in.

Ned managed to finish half a slice before he was certain that there was no more room in his stomach and he had to push his plate away, Benjen was not far behind him and Lyanna just managed to finish an entire slice before she had to give up as well. Somehow, Lord Wyman was able to go on to second slice and his father barely seemed to notice any food, his attention was on Brandon and Catelyn.

Catelyn's attention was on Brandon as well and while Brandon was speaking to her Ned could tell that his brother's mind was a thousand miles, and wishing that his body was there too. Suddenly it had gotten too hot for Ned inside of the feast hall and he asked his father if he could go outside and get some cool air, his father seemed concerned but with a nod he gave him permission to go and so with that Ned stood and strode out of the hall, as he went he nearly smiled when he heard Lyanna say that she felt warm as well but their father said no as soon as she said that.

Once Ned stepped outside into the cool night air he took in a deep breath and let it fill his lungs, the feast hall had been getting unbearable and this was much better. He always preferred the cold. He thought about going back to the godswood so he could have some time to his self with the quiet but before he could take a step he heard something, a sound that sounded like a mixture between a hiccup and sob.

He turned his head to see Lady Ashara sitting in a small covered area with a goblet in one hand and a pitcher of wine in the other, she was wearing a violet dress with only a thin cloak covering her and Ned didn't know how she was able to stand being out in the cold like that.

He took his own cloak off and covered her with it, it made her jump and spill wine on it but that didn't bother him at the moment. She looked up at him with her own purple eyes wide in surprise. "Eddard? Oh, I'm sorry. I ruined your cloak."

"Don't worry about that, I have plenty of them." Ned said as he sat down next to her and gently took the pitcher out of her hand. "What are you doing out here in the cold, you should come inside where it's warmer."

"Oh, no I can't do that. I don't want to be around them." She swallowed the rest of her wine that was in her goblet before she stood up and walked away as she rubbed at her eyes for a few moments, the goblet slipping out of her hand before she turned to face Ned. Even weeping, she was still one of the most beautiful woman that Ned had ever seen.

"I am a horrible person, do you know why? Because my sister is trapped a thousand miles away and she's pregnant without any friends and I don't care about any of that because I am too busy being bitter about the fact that my friend is getting married to the man that I love." Ned bit his lip, this was difficult and not for the first time to day he wished that he could punch Brandon in the face.

"Brandon told me that you knew about Lauryn, I'm sure that you think I'm a terrible person but it is not like I wanted this. I didn't even want to come here, Prince Doran ordered me to accompany Elia." She sighed heavily and hide her face in her hands for a moment before she looked back up at him. "I'm sorry, you're in a worse position then I am, I just...I wish that I could go home. I wish I could stop loving him."

"I understand, truly I do." Ned stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I wish that Elia was here and I wish that things were different, but they are not. Why don't you go and lie down, things will seem better in the morning. I am sure enough of that."

It was a pathetic platitude and he knew it but he wasn't sure what else to say, he was terrible at comforting people. Ashara sighed heavily and nodded before she turned and made her way back towards the main keep. Ned sighed and made his way back towards the gate that would take him back out into the godswood.

He knelt in front of the weirwood and began to pray, it seemed for now it was all that he could do.

End of Chapter Thirty-Seven

* * *

 **Welp, there we are then. A new chapter, I know this one might seem like filler but it does house an important event and that is the marriage of Brandon and Cat. I promise you that we are getting closer to getting Ned and Elia back together, the next Chapter should by from Tyrion's perspective, the one after that from Elia's and the one after that from Jaime's.**

 **Please review, favourite and follow if you enjoyed.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	38. Chapter 38

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Eight.

Tyrion reached out and picked up an apple from the plate in front of him and bit into it, chewing it with his mouth open. He smirked around the mush in his mouth when he saw his father glaring at him. He had grown used to angering him when ever he tried to please him, better to make him angry and reveal in that power.

Tyrion and his brother were sitting in their father's solar, near the top of the Rock. All their uncles and their aunts sat around them, well all their uncles which had the last name of Lannister and the only aunt whose opinion Tyrion was certain that his father actually respected.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was here, off all people. His father had never been one to keep him involved in the running of the Rock but he had to admit that he was curious as to why he had been brought to this meeting as so he swallowed the apple mush and wiped at his lips with his handkerchief before lowering his head in contrition.

His father glanced at him for a moment longer before he turned his gaze to Aunt Genna. "Cersei has sent a letter from Dragonstone, she is pregnant." The room seemed to turn quiet but for what reason Tyrion wasn't sure, surely the announcement that the firstborn daughter of a great house was carrying the heir to the royal throne, very possibly the future king, was a thing of joy.

The mood in the room did not seem very joyful, Jaime he could understand well enough, his older brother's hands had tightened around the armrests of his chair until his knuckles were turning white and his teeth were clenched tightly. If his father had noticed, then he did not comment on it.

"Well, it's about time if you ask me." Uncle Gerion said with a smirk as he reached out and picked up a golden goblet that was studded with rubies, turning it around so he could examine it in the light. "Cersei's loved the boy since she first looked at him, mind you if it would still make her the queen I imagine that she would love anyone who gave her the crown."

If Tyrion's favourite uncle cared at all about the fierce glare that his elder brother was levelling on him then he did his level best not to show it. "We should send a gift, that's the tradition isn't it? Mayhap a golden spoon? Shall we stud it with diamonds and pearls and rubies? Truly it would be a spoon fit for a prince or princess, not that they'd be able to use it to eat with."

"Gerion, enough." Uncle Kevan said firmly and Gerion rolled his eyes as he put the goblet back down on the table, he was annoyed but he seemed content to hold his tongue. Gerion and Tyrion were always more likely to listen to him then they were to listen to Tywin, if only to spite him.

"Cersei is safe at Dragonstone, we are sure of that?" Aunt Genna said, a look that Tyrion didn't recognise painting her face. If he didn't know better then he would almost say that it was worry, but that couldn't be. This was Cersei, his sweet sister was not his favourite person in the world to be sure but this was Cersei of all people, for all her faults he never thought that she was someone who needed to be worried about.

"For now, it won't be long before Aerys finds out that she is with child. I don't think that Prince Rhaegar will truly want to let his father knew but it would be much worse for them if he does not tell him." Tywin said with a large frown.

"He won't hurt her, why would he?" Jaime said and the concern for Cersei was as clear to see as the hair on his head, he swallowed roughly before he spoke again. "She's carrying his grandchild and she hasn't done anything wrong."

"Aerys is mad, it is impossible now for me to be able to predict what he will do. You should knew that well enough." Their father remarked with a pointed glare which he levelled on Jaime who bowed his head. "He may not call her back to King's Landing yet, the prince is required to present his child as soon as it's born, not before. But if he orders that she return before she gives birth then there is little that can be done, she can not disobey an order from the king. Nor can Rhaegar."

"So, we're running out of time it seems." Uncle Tygett said as he leaned forward, his eyes as hard as stone. "What should we do?"

"At the moment, there is nothing that we can do. Certain...piece are not yet in play and others are moving in ways that I did not expect, if certain things had not happened the way that they did then things might have been different but that is not the way that it's fallen." Tywin turned his attention from Gerion to Genna. "Sister, write to Cersei. Tell her to say that her pregnancy is bringing on great sickness in her, she should be able to manage that considering her ladies saw being ill."

Tyrion did not consider his life to be a blessed one, to say the very least. He might have been born a Lannister of Casterly Rock but being born a dwarf had rather cancelled out most of the benefits that had come with it. He imagined that it was only because that he was born a Lannister that he had not been left in the woods to die or thrown to the dogs as a snack.

Despite all of that the image of his sweet sister losing her stomach in front of all her ladies was a thought that brought him great joy, it pleased him so much that he couldn't stop the laugh that escaped from his throat. Soon all the attention of everyone in the solar was on him. His father gave him a stern glare while his uncle Kevan's face was a mask of disapproval.

Aunt Genna seemed to disapprove as well but Tyrion was certain that he could see a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, Uncle Tygett's face was a carefully constructed mask but the corners of his lips were turning upwards and Tyrion had gotten used to reading his uncle's mask, he was amused even if he did not want to admit it.

Uncle Gerion did not even bother to hide his amusement, his lips were pulled back into a grin and at that moment Tyrion realised that he looked the most like Jaime out of any of their uncles. Speaking of his brother, he seemed about as amused as their father but he at least wasn't glaring at him.

No, right now Jaime was simply staring down at his lap as though it was the most interesting lap in the world. Tyrion had sympathy for how much it had to sting but he was surprised that he seemed so down with the news, Cersei was married to the prince and Tyrion was at least vaguely aware of what a husband and wife were expected to do, surely this had not come as a surprise to his older brother?

"I will send the letter as soon as I am able, but I don't suppose I have to tell you Tywin that it doesn't truly matter how sick she is or how sick she acts, if the king wants her and the prince back in King's Landing then he will be offended regardless." Aunt Genna pointed out.

"He can be as offended as much as he likes, he's offended me for years. He took great pleasure in that." His father's eyes burned with the memories of dozens of slights, of crude jokes that Tyrion had only heard from brave stablehands who dared to whisper such things in the Rock.

Tyrion normally enjoyed when anything made his father angry, to see him humiliated but the Mad King was hardly someone that Tyrion wanted to admire. When considering the mess that the mad old fool had put them in with Princess Elia, Tyrion had heard of the fabled Red Viper of Dorne and while there had been no moves on his part as of yet, as far as they knew, he doubted that it would be long now.

He didn't doubt that his father wasn't already considering that and about what could be done to avoid diplomatic incidents, not just with Dorne but with the North as well. Tyrion had not spoken with Ned Stark, had only truly seen him briefly during the Tourney, but he seemed a calm enough man, a reasonable man.

But how many men remained reasonable when their wife was taken from their side and given to another men? How many men stayed calm when they knew their wife was with child and she was hundreds of miles away? The only one that Tyrion could think that might have ever existed would be Baelor the Blessed and godly patience and forgiveness in his mind did not excuse utter stupidity.

Northern men fought bravely and fiercely and while the men of the Westerlands outnumbered the men of the North, and Dorne put together, and had better arms and armour but Tyrion thought that men fighting for something were more dangerous than men who did not, the North and Dorne would fight to get Elia away from the Rock but the men of the Westerlands would be fighting them because their king was a mad man and he fucked everything up.

It was a concern but Tyrion had to admit, however childish it was, the thought of a war coming was somewhat exciting he heard all of the stories of course but he wondered what it would look like to see the proud Lannister navy crashing against Dornish and Northern ships outside the walls of Lannisport.

Then he remembered that neither Dorne nor the North had any true navy, they would need to ally themselves with a kingdom that did have one if they wanted too attack them by the sea. The Redwynes of the Arbor had the largest fleet in all of Westeros, nearly a thousand ships his uncle Gerion had told him, but the Redwynes were sworn to Highgarden and House Tyrell, they were unlikely to help the North and the Dornish in their cause.

"Aerys has mocked me for far too long, I let a great deal go do to the friendship we once shared but enough is enough." Tywin Lannister stood out of his chair and in that moment Tyrion though that naming him the Old Lion had been a mistake, even now he was always going to be the Proud Lion.

The sun flooding through the large windows of the solar caused his hair to shine like gold, the grey streaks looked more like silver in this light and even at this age he seemed powerful. He glanced between Jaime and Tyrion for a few moments, he seemed to be considering something. "You are both no longer children, Jaime is a knight and will soon be my heir and Tyrion...regardless, it is time for the both of you to do your duty to your house, there is something that you must both be made aware of. I would not normally involve of either of you but circumstances have forced my hand."

Before his father could say anything more the door to his solar suddenly flew open, Gerion, Tygett and Jaime all leapt out of their chairs and drew their swords so quickly that it made Tyrion's head spin, Tywin frowned deeply and his frown only seemed to darken even more as he saw who had burst in and Kevan, who had been standing in front of Aunt Genna to shield her, had a confused frown on his own face as he moved out of the way so Genna could see who stood their.

Tyrion had to jump out of his chair and move around his uncles and his brother so he could see who had busted in, he was curious to see who would be foolish enough to come into Lord Tywin's solar without his permission. As soon as his eyes landed on that person he felt his mouth dropping open in shock.

Princess Elia Nymeros Martell stood in the open door way, her eyes, which were so dark they looked to Tyrion the colour of black diamonds, were wet as they always seemed to shine lately with unshed tears but even so there was a hardness to them. She was dressed in a orange and black dress which left her shoulders and arms bear and high up on her arms, a golden snake lay coiled.

Her belly was swollen with her child, Tyrion had seen a pregnant woman or two in his life and he knew that her time would soon be coming, any day now was likely. Still, despite how often he was told that when baring a child was when a woman was most vulnerable she did not seem at all frail or weak to him in that moment, she seemed strong.

There were the sound of footsteps and soon her the maid that his father had given to the Dornish princess came running into the room, as soon as her eyes landed on her lord and all of his family she turned even paler than she was and she ducked her head in deference. "My lord, forgive me please. The princess Elia demanded to speak to you and when I told her that you were busy she grabbed a knife and threatened to open her throat if I did not let her out of her room."

"I will speak for myself Clara, thank you very much." Elia spoke firmly all though her voice was nothing but the model of courtesy, Tyrion noticed that as she spoke she did not take her eyes of her father's face, staring at him right in the eye. "Lord Tywin, forgive this interruption but I am afraid that I must speak with you and it can not wait."

"Clearly. Clara, is it? Go outside and wait for the princess, she will not be long. And shut the door as you go." Clara bowed her head and did a quick courtesy before she scurried out of the room, shutting the door firmly as she went. Once his father was certain that the door was shut he turned his attention fully to Elia. "Well then Princess, what could be so important that you saw the need to interrupt what was an extremely important meeting?"

"I do so apologise for interrupting your meeting Lord Tywin but it seems that I have something more important, it is a pressing issue. Your most honourable Maester has informed me that I am likely to birth before too long." The words seemed like something that would be cause for celebration but they had a bite to them that was clear to hear, all though he supposed that in this case venom would be more appropriate.

"I have been made aware of this, if you are concerned for the future and wellbeing of your child then you do not need to worry. Room has been made in the nursery and plans are being made for it's future." The words did little to sooth the Dornish woman, if nothing else they seemed to anger her even more.

"I thank you for your generosity, my Lord of Lannister but I am rather afraid it is rather going to be wasted. For when all is said and done I will not be here, by tomorrow morning or at the very latest I tomorrow night I will be on a boat being sent back to the North. A boat that you will put me on."

The entire room seemed to be struck dumb by her comments and if it was anyone else than Tyrion would have suggested that her isolation had driven her made but she did not seem to have been driven mad at all, she seemed quiet confident in what she was saying, As if it was as sure a fact as that the sky was grey in the morning, blue in the afternoon, golden in the evening and black at night.

Tyrion glanced towards Jaime, recently he and Elia had been spending more time together, to see if he knew something but he seemed just as confused as the rest of them.

His father spoke clearly, if he had been surprised at all by her words then he had not shown it whatsoever. "And, tell me, why exactly would I do this Princess? I can see no reason why it might benefit me or my house."

"Then I will give you a very simple reason, My lord. If you do not begin to make perpetrations for me to be returned to the North then I will return to my room at this very instant, climb on to my window edge and cast myself into the sea." Tyrion was certain that her felt his breath freeze in his chest as he stared wide eyed at the Dornish woman, perhaps he had been wrong about her not losing her mind.

"If I do not do what you want then you will kill yourself? A childish threat Princess, and I think an empty one." Tywin said as he glanced at Genna who began to step towards Elia, she gently took the girl's wrist and began to speak to her softly but before she could truly say anything Elia ripped her hand out of Aunt Genna's hold and stepped back.

"Then you are very much mistaken my Lord, we have very little in common as I am sure that you will agree but one thing I think that we do have in common is that I would never make a threat that I do not intend to carry out if I am forced too, and I will do it if I am forced too."

"You would kill yourself and your child with you, I think not. You have a gentle and kind heart they say, do you think that you could live with yourself?"

"I won't have too, and you know nothing of my heart. And what future would my child have here? If she is a girl, married to some landed knight in a dismal little holdfast? If he is a boy, serving a Lannister knight as a squire or maybe serving you as a page until he's old enough to be given a dismal little holdfast? I think not."

"The child's father is a second son, he would not have amounted to much at any rate."

"They would be loved, they would knew their father and would be raised among their people. That is already more than I could ask for than I could hear." She stepped forward, one of her hands on her swollen belly, and pushed through the small wall that Tyrion's uncles and Jaime had formed before she stopped in front of his father's desk and put her free hand on it as she stared into his eyes. "I more than prepared to do it."

"Perhaps you are, now answer me another question if you would. Why is it that I should care? You were bound here due to the actions of a mad king, in a way you would be doing me something me of a favour. Taking yourself of my hands, as it were." Tywin responded as he stared deeply back into Elia's eyes, Tyrion had to applauded her, many men would not dare to be on the other side of Tywin Lannister's glares. The Dornish princess was not backing down.

"We both knew that you are much smarter than that, I do not doubt that the life of me and my child mean as much to as the life of a rat, but it doesn't matter how much it is worth to you. It matters how much it is worth to my brothers, to my husband, to my fellow Dornishmen and the men of the North."

Tyrion had not seen his father scared before in his life and he did not see him scared now but a flash of irritation ran across his face before his mask slammed back into place. "A great deal I would imagine, but I would remind you that the armies of the Westerlands are three times as large as the amount of men that the North and Dorne can muster together, as well they would need to join with one another and Winterfell and Sunspear as thousands of miles apart."

"That is the truth, well enough. I can not deny it. But I would remind you that my husband was fostered with Robert Baratheon and under the care of Jon Arryn, if I were to die under your care then Dorne and the North would march for me, and The Stormlands and the Vale would march for Ned."

"And then the King, well he would see all these armies mustering against you and do you honestly think he would complain? The man hates you, he would raise the armies of the Crownlands and join them. The Reach would follow the king and then that would leave you with your bannermen and...the ironborn? They are unlikely to help you."

"Of course you would have sometime, I think. You would try and supress knowledge of my death but let me assure you, knowing Doran as I do it would not surprise me if he had spies acting inside of the Rock. And even if he did not, Varys no doubt does and if I die he will tell the king."

"And if I let you go and send you to the North, do you expect that he will be overly happy with me? He may indeed raise his forces against me anyway."

"Send me back to the North and I will vouch for you with Lord Rickard and my brother, if Aerys dare to try anything then you will have all the kingdoms standing at your back. Only The Reach and the Ironborn would stand against you then, I am offering you a choice between survival or annihilation and that is never a choice. What do you say?"

Tywin stared at Elia for a few moments before he glanced over towards Kevan and Genna before he turned his gaze back on to Elia. "Return to your room now before I have my guards escort you there, I need to discuss this. Now, go."

Elia smirked and Tyrion was certain that he could hear his father's teeth grinding as Elia walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. Gerion stared at the door for a few moments before he turned to look at Tywin. "I like her."

"Gerion. Be quiet." Genna said before she turned her attention on to Tywin. "I hate to admit this, dear brother but she does have something resembling a point. She can not stay here and the longer she does the more tense things grow, sending her back to the North would perhaps be for the best. I'd rather we take our chances on the side with more armies."

"I agree." Tygett said as he turned to join in on the conversation. His eyes narrowed as he played with the hilt of his sword. "The mad old bastard's insulted our family for too long, if Rhaegar is ready then he might not even have the entire Crownlands to stand with him. The soon he's dead the better if you ask me, we should move now before he has a chance to summon Cersei back to King's Landing."

"We are assuming that he hasn't already, several kingsguard were sent with Prince Rhaegar to Dragonstone. If word reaches them that the King has summoned them back then their vows compel them to drag them back if they have too." Uncle Kevan pointed out but Tyrion wasn't truly focused on that, he was instead wondering about something his younger uncle had said.

"Uncle Tygett, if Prince Rhaegar is ready for what?" His father suddenly shot a sharp glance at Tygett before he turned his gaze on to Tyrion.

"That is not of any import to you, Jaime, I want you to take your brother and make certain that Princess Elia will do nothing foolish until we come to a decision." As soon as their father had finished speaking Jaime reached out and took Tyrion by the arm and quickly lead him out of the solar.

"You don't think she's going to do it, do you?" Jaime asked once the door was fully closed and they hurried through the corridors of the Rock. "It has to be a bluff, she wouldn't do that."

"I am not certain, but she knows that Father doesn't make threats that he does not intend to keep. I don't know if she's bluffing or not but if she is then she is braver then I will ever be." After that there was only silence as they made their way down and through the Rock until the finally reached the chamber which had been given to Elia since she had been a...guest at the Rock.

They opened the door and found her rubbing her belly through her dress as she stared out through the window, even from here in the doorway Tyrion could hear the waves crashing against the rocks so very far down below. "It is a beautiful view." Elia said, though she did not turn to face them. "I can think of worse things to see before you die."

"You can't mean it." Jaime muttered as he stepped forward, Elia turned her head to smile at him and Tyrion he was certain that he had never seen a sadder thing in his entire life.

"I do, I do mean it. You have to be prepared to carry out your threats Jaime, otherwise they mean nothing. Even if it will be the last thing that you ever do." Elia sighed as she stood from her chair. "I can only pray now that he sees reason."

"All this will make him do is move you to a chamber without a window, that's all." Tyrion pointed out but it did not seem to dissuade her.

"Then I shall not eat, nor shall I drink."

"You're not just putting your life at risk, your putting your own child's life as well." Jaime grabbed her by her shoulders and turned her so he was staring right into her eyes. "Tell me, what kind of mother does that?"

That seemed to have struck a chord and a few tears slipped from Elia's eyes, leaving water trails running down her dusky cheeks. "I...I imagine a terrible one would do that, but I meant what I said. My child will have no true future here, surrounded by people who are not like them. A mother who is miserable and never knowing their father. I can not bear that, this is the only way. Either I am returned, or the last action of my life is to bring House Lannister to ruins."

"You are smarter than I expected you to be, I will admit that." They all turned to see Tywin standing in the doorway of the open door, his eyes only held room for Elia however. "I have considered what you have said, and we have an arrangement. Tomorrow night a ship will leave from Lannisport with White Harbour as it's destination, you will be on it."

"Thank you."

"The journey will be long. There is a chance it will be born at sea."

"Perhaps, but it will be born on it's way home."

"Then there is nought else to speak off."

"Actually, I think you will find that there." Elia said with her head held high and Tyrion had to applauded the sheer brashness if nothing else, she got what she wanted from Tywin Lannister and she wanted yet more still. "I want Jaime to come with me, I want him to see me safely home."

"And why would I allow that?"

"Because of the two people I trust in this entire kingdom, neither of them are you. I trust Jaime, he's an honourable man, one who made a mistake but an honourable man. I don't doubt for one second that you would ever dare risk him getting hurt so you aren't going to try anything."

"And if I send my son and heir with you to the North, how do I know that I will ever see him again?" Tywin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jaime sees me safely home and I swear to you he will be on the fastest boat to leave White Harbour, it's a gesture of good faith. To show that you do not condone what King Aerys did to me and too my husband." Tywin was quiet then and Tyrion was sure, just for half a moment, that he saw something that resembled uncertainty flash before his eyes before he turned to address Jaime.

"Do consent to take her to the north?"

Jaime looked between Elia and their father for a moment before he nodded quietly, Tywin nodded silently himself before he turned and left the room. Once he was certain that his father was gone and out of earshot Tyrion turned to Elia and gave her a wide grin.

"You must teach me how to do that, if I could trick Father like you did then I could emperor of the world!"

End of Chapter Thirty-Eight

* * *

 **And just like that, Elia is on her way back to the North and the Ned/Elia reunion is that much closer. Next chapter will be from Elia's perspective and there will be a slight timeskip as it will be towards the end of their journey North.**

 **Also, as I type this I just realise it's only been two days since my last update, not bad if I do say so myself!**

 **Please review, favourite and follow if you enjoyed this chapter. Constructive Criticism is always welcome and appreciated.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345**


	39. Chapter 39

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Thirty-Nine.

Elia brought her hand down to stroke soothing circles over her belly as the babe inside of her kicked as ferociously as a cart horse. The babe had been more and more active as of late, they did not like the boat and they had made their opinion quite clear to her many times over their long journey back to the North.

She was often confided to her quarters with only a bucket for company, she would have preferred to be out on the deck but she didn't like the idea of the crew of the ship watching her being sick. She still had her dignity, and soon enough she would have more than that.

Each day that had passed since they had left Lannisport had been unbearably slow in its passing, the ship they had left on had been the fastest in the Lannister fleet, she had been assured of that by the captain, by the Lord of House Lannister in Lannisport and by Lord Tywin himself and while that may have been the case they had been slowed down by the fact that they were being accompanied by three large warships to protect them and they were sailing along the cost.

Elia could understand why of course, sailing along the coast was safer and reduced the risk of the ironborn or other pirates from launching an attack on them and if there was an attack on them then while the larger ships were fighting them off they could slip away on the waves.

But while her head was telling her that it did not stop the irritation that seeped into her with each day that they made such little progress, while she knew that she should have expected this as Tywin Lannister would never risk his first born son without such protection it still felt as though as he was doing this to spite her, for daring to stand against him and ordering that he agreed to return her to the North.

She was also aware that these ships weren't just filled with Lannister sailors, they were filled with Lannister soldiers as well. Not enough to pose any threat in White Harbour but the message it would give would be very clear to Lord Wyman, his son was to be able to leave the north with no issue or there would be a great deal of trouble for him.

As she gazed out across the sea she almost thought that she could see White Harbour, just a little dot on the horizon even though she knew that was impossible. They were close, so very close but there was still a little bit further to go.

They had said down from Lannisport and down all the way down the coast until they had reached the Sea of Dorne, as they had been sailing through the Stepstones it had taken all that she had to stop herself from begging the captain to dock in Planky Town.

She knew that he wouldn't, Lord Tywin had order him to take them to White Harbour and no further. She had watched as Dorne sailed past with tears in her eyes. It felt like she would never be seeing it again. She would never be able to feel the hot burning sand in between her toes and waddle in the cool blue pools of the Water Gardens.

She had cried herself to sleep that night as for the very first time her thoughts were not on Ned or her babe or the North but was on Doran and Oberyn and all their children and how very much she loved them. And on the next night she had cried herself to sleep because she felt terrible for not thinking about Ned and the babe.

They were almost there, if they set sail in the morning and if the winds were fair and the oceans were calm then they could be in White Harbour before nightfall and then it was simply a matter of riding to Winterfell along the White Knife, it was a long ride but the worst part of the journey would be behind her.

As soon as she thought about riding a heavy kick landed against her side and Elia breathed harshly through teeth and she rubbed slightly more firmly to try and sooth them. She wouldn't be able to ride to Winterfell when she was like this, every day and every night she had prayed to the Mother that she would allow her to keep the babe inside of her for just one day more, just until she saw Ned.

But she knew that she wasn't going to make it to Winterfell, she had been lucky to last this long without birthing. She hadn't like the idea of birthing her babe at sea, neither Northman nor Dornish had been seafarers in hundreds of years and the idea of birthing at sea had terrified her and when Lord Tywin had pointed that out to her she had almost changed her mind right then and there.

But she couldn't, if she had than no threat she had ever made again would have worked. The worst thing was that she was prepared to do it but if she had changed her mind then and there it would be over. The old lion would never take her seriously until it was too late and all her death would do was bring more doom and more despair.

With every kick that her babe gave inside her she felt more and more guilty, it was the only threat that she was certain that might work. For all the pride that House Lannister had, for all their arms and armour and men to wield them couldn't stand against an alliance between The North, Dorne, The Vale and The Stormlands.

And now she was almost home, Lord Tywin hadn't dared risk that she was bluffing, just a little bit further.

After a few more moments the babe had finally settled and Elia let out a breath, how could simply carrying such a small thing inside of her drain her so? Did all women feel like this towards the end or was it only her? Elia had not spent much time around other pregnant women before, her mother had been pregnant with Oberyn after her but she had fallen pregnant with him almost a month after she had her.

Her mother had miscarried several times before Doran, several times in between him and her and twice more after Oberyn was born but the Maester had always said that there had never been any signs to suggest that there was anything wrong with her pregnancy, it just always went wrong.

She wasn't going to miscarry the baby now but even if the birth went without any problems that didn't mean that her babe was safe, her thoughts turned to Mors and Olyvar who had both died in the cradle before she had been born. Elia wasn't as strong as her mother, she did not think that she would be able to bear that.

"Stay in just a tiny bit longer, just until we reach the North. I want your father to be the first one to see you, the first one besides me." Elia whispered as she moved her hand off of her stomach and turned her attention out on to the waves.

The Three Sisters were grim little islands but they were close to White Harbour so as soon as they had docked here for the night Elia knew that their journey was almost over. They had nearly been conquered by the North over two thousands years ago and when the Three Sisters had agreed to join with The Vale for protection that had caused a thousand years of warfare between both kingdoms.

In the end the Three Sisters had become part of the Vale, most weren't happy about that but from what Elia had read about the subject, which admittedly wasn't much, it seemed that the men and women of the Sisters thought that if they were going to lose their independence then they would rather lose it willingly rather than have it taken from.

Still, from what she had been able to gather it was still something of a sore point for both kingdoms and it was clear that the Three Sisters liked to pretend that they were still independent of either of them.

Elia had to admit that she did not like it here, she imagined that island life was a hard life and it would brew a hard people but Dorne brewed a hard people as well, living in the desert was hardly ideal though she would not deny that she had been shielded from most of it due to being safe inside the Water Gardens and Sunspear for most of her life.

She did not like the way that men looked at her, the Three Sisters were mainly made up of the sistermen, a bloodline not connected to the First Men although there had been some mixing in recent years, there were some First Men and Andels thrown into the mix as well but Elia had doubted that most of the men of this isle had ever seen someone descended from Rhoynish blood before.

They were currently on the middle island of Sweetsister and many men had been staring at her lately and all too suddenly she found herself longing for Jaime, the sistermen always claimed that they did not care about the affairs of any of the mainlanders and that might just be true but Tywin Lannister's reputation was well known through out all of Westeros and no one would dare try anything to her if his son was at her side.

Almost like the Warrior himself answering her prayer the door of the tavern she sat outside of opened and Jaime walked out, dressed in his armour of gilded steel that shone so brightly in the sun. He had a sword clasped at his side, a gift from his father before they had left Lannisport, everything about him screamed wealth that the people of these islands could only dream about.

She wasn't sure but Elia got the feeling that dressing like that was probably not the best idea, thankfully at least while he was dressed in that armour no one could try anything and Elia couldn't deny that it did make her feel safer. As well as the tavern that was now filled with Lannister soldiers.

As Jaime sat down next to her Elia was certain that there was a look of concern on his face, at seeing that Elia graced him with a gentle smile. She had meant what she had told Lord Tywin that day in Casterly Rock, of all the Lannisters there were only two that she trusted and Jaime was one of them.

A part of her was truly still angry with him for what he had done, he was still partly the reason that she had been separated from Ned after all but ever since he shown to her the Stone Garden inside of Casterly Rock, offering her a small refuge from the world, she had found that her anger towards him had been growing less and less as of late.

She had loved the Stone Garden, she did not worship the Old Gods and had always believed in the Seven but she couldn't deny the peace it had brought to her. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she would slip out of her chamber and sit in the garden until morning came with only the silence and the weeping face of the weirwood as company.

And it was strange, but sometimes she was certain that she could hear voices even when she was all alone. They were never any louder than a whisper and often times the voices were strangers to her but once or twice she was certain that she could hear Ned, she had been starting to worry that she had been losing her mind and thus after that had spent a few days away from the weirwood but soon she found that she needed the comfort that it provided her.

"Are you feeling better?" Jaime asked and Elia nodded in response, when she had first went into the tarven it had been so hot and the smell of cooking fish had hit her nose with the force of a punch from a man dressed in full plate, she had to run out and sit down to try and catch her breath.

"I am fine, it was just a little too crowded for me." Elia said as she pulled her fur closer around her to try and shield herself from the chill, she could already feel that if she stayed out in this much longer then she would get a chill and that would be dangerous when it was finally time for the babe to come but if she went back inside then there was a very real danger of her fainting and if she did then she could fall and hurt her babe.

She was surprised then when she saw Ser Jaime undoing his fur cloak and wrapping it around her, it wasn't as thick as hers but it did help in keeping the worst of the chill out. She granted him another smile, which had been rare during her stay in Casterly Rock but as soon as she saw Lannisport and the great outline of the Rock slowly disappearing from her sight they had become more common. "Thank you Ser Jaime, this is very gallant of you."

"I am a knight Princess, sworn to protect women and their babes even if it is just from the cold." Jaime replied with that handsome smirk of his and Elia couldn't deny the giggle, if felt good to be able to laugh again. She had encourage the sailors of the ships to sing their bawdy songs, she had wanted to laugh loud and she had wanted to laugh long.

"Well, I am quiet pleased to have you for a champion and a companion."

"And here I am, happy to be had." Jaime rubbed at his armoured arms, clearly trying to pretend that the cold did not bother him.

"Ser Jaime, I truly am fine. This cloak has helped keep out the cold a great deal, I shall come in soon when some of the men have come out and it is less crowded. Go and get yourself some stew and warm yourself by the fire. I shall be fine." She tried to sooth his doubts but it was clear that the thought of leaving her out on her own did not sit well with her.

Thankfully for Ser Jaime it seemed as though he did not needed to make that choice for himself as the sound of several horses galloping towards them drew his attention. He stood to his full height and pushed Elia behind him gently when she stood as well, at least a dozen riders atop black horses came to a stop outside of the inn.

Thankfully several of the Lannister soldiers must have heard the sound of the horses approaching as the door to the tavern swung open and at least thirty of the men ran out, though some of them were out of armour and quiet a few of them were half dressed. All of them were armed however, some with swords and others with spears.

One of the men urged his horse forward, he was quite an ugly man with a nose that had been broken several times to the point that only it's position on his face suggested that it was a nose to her and a very prominent brow with eyes the colour of mud. When he spoke, it reminded her of man who had just been strangled trying to speak. "Well met."

Jaime seemed surprised by the surprisingly civil greeting but he said nothing about that, simply met the other man's gaze without blinking. "And too you, can we be of any help? If you're looking for directions then I'm afraid we aren't going to be of much help but I'm sure you can find what you're looking for. It's not a large island."

There was some laughter from the riders but none of them seemed to be particularly amused by his words, the leader spoke up. "It is not a place we are looking for, Ser Jaime, it's a person, you to be specific. Lord Godric Borrel, Lord of Sweetsister is wondering what it is that brings the son and heir of Tywin Lannister and four Lannister ships this far north." He turned his attention from Jaime's face to look over his shoulder, directly at Elia. "And I am sure he would be curious about why Princess Elia is traviling with you."

The ugly man laughed as he saw her eyes widening. "We care little for you mainlanders but travellers from The Vale and The North that stop at our islands do bring us some very interesting tales. We heard of what had happened at the tourney celebreating the betrothal of your sister to Prince Rhaegar, Ser Jaime. We always like stories of the mad man that rules over you."

"He rules over you as well, the Three Sisters are part of Westeros. Last time I checked, the only problem is I can't quiet remember which part of Westeros is belongs too." Jaime mocked and there was a fresh wave of laughter from the Lannister soldiers though the man atop the horse frowned deeply and Elia could see that his grip was tightening around the reins of his horse.

"Be that as it may, Lord Godric wishes to speak with you and I am sure with Princess Elia as well." Jaime frowned heavily and Elia knew that he was going to refuse, before he could Elia stood forward and spoke.

"I am sure that Ser Jaime and I would be more than honoured to speak with Lord Godric, please lead on." Jaime whipped his head around to stare at her, clearly wondering if she had gone mad but Elia didn't acknowledge him at all, simply kept her eye on the ugly man on horse back who stared at her for a few moments before he nodded and turned his horse around and he and his group trotted off a little bit away.

"Would someone please bring us the horses?" Elia said as she gritted her teeth her teeth to stop herself from groaning, she had spied Lord Godric's hall as soon as they had docked on the island. a large ugly black thing which seemed to almost be part of the rocks it was built on with a long bridge that they would need to ride on to get to the castle.

It did not seem a long ride in truth but a great deal of it was uphill and the thought of how uncomfortable it would be irked her, regardless she knew that they had to go and speak to him. Their position was not as strong as Jaime would like to think, ever since they had left Lannisport they had done their best to not announce their presence, the pretence was that their ships were a merchant vessel and their escorts and Jaime was simply a night in service while Elia, if anyone bothered to ask, was simply a tradeswoman from Myr who did business for the Lannisters.

Of course that story had some problems as well, for one the fact that Elia was quite clearly heavily pregnant. Thankfully, most of the places they had stopped in for one reason or another had never seen a woman from Myr before and so they simply accepted it when she told them that women from Myr were always working, and if they were carrying a babe then she simply kept working until the birthing time and once the babe was out she went back to working.

Of course, Elia had no idea if that was true, she wasn't Myrish after all but many had trouble telling them apart as both the Dornish and the Myrish had similar looks with dark olive skin and curly black hair, a common theory held by the maesters of Oldtown was that some of the Rhoynar had stopped in Myr and settled there although it was not a popular theory in Dorne as they held quite firmly to the legend that Nymeria and her ten thousand ships had only ever truly settled in Dorne and nowhere else.

But Lord Godric knew that they weren't merchant ships and the ugly man had known that Jaime was Jaime and that she was no tradeswoman, if he knew then he could send word to the king and then all their plans would be ruined, it was too late to turn back now but Aerys would make certain that Tywin paid for this deceit.

Jaime did not quiet seem to grasp this however as he stepped forward and sized her arm firmly as several of the squires ran off to fetch the horses. "What are you doing?" He hissed as his eyes seemed to burn with anger, it was strange but at that moment Elia couldn't help but notice just how much Jaime Lannister looked like his twin at that moment.

"We need to go and speak with him Jaime, he knows who we are. He could send word to Aerys and could put your family to the sword. We have to convince him not too." That seemed to have stricken the right chord with Jaime as his gaze had softened and pulled his hand away.

As soon as he had done so the squires returned with the horses, Elia had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying due to the embarrassment that came on to her when it took two knights to help her on to her horse, it was a larger creature than she was used too but she needed it to support her weight and that thought nearly made her cry as well.

Elia had never been one to hide from or ignore her emotions but while she had been at Casterly Rock she had done her best to keep them hidden, she didn't want pity from any of them and she didn't want any of them to think that she was weak.

But now that she was away from the Rock she found that even the slightest of things seemed to threaten to make her cry, she didn't as she was still surrounded by Lannister men and again she didn't want to be thought of as weak but the temptation was there and it came more easily now.

She decided then and there that as soon as she was back in Winterfell and the babe was born and she knew that they were both safe then she was going to lock herself in a room for an entire night and cry herself to sleep, she thought that she deserved at least that much.

The ride was as unpleasant as she had been expecting and her babe had made that it clear to her as it used her insides as a training dummy. At one point she felt bile burning at the back of her throat but with a few deep breaths the feeling went away.

Soon enough they were passing across the bridge that lead into the bleak castle and were ushered into the main hall, the castle was dark and dim with only a scant few torches mounted on to the walls. A drop of water hit her on the head and Elia looked up to see that the roof was leaking and the chill was seeping in through the walls, it almost seemed colder inside than out.

Lord Godric Borrel was sitting at the high table of the hall, hunched over a large round loaf of black bread which had been hollowed out to act as a trencher for a thick serving of stew, the sort that was famous on the Three Sisters. The man was ugly, which seemed to be something that was quite common on the islands. Elia would never say such a thing out loud of course but she didn't see the need to deny what was simply a fact, she found the man to be quiet ugly.

He had large shoulders and a neck that barely seemed to exist, it almost seemed like his head was simply a part of his torso. His cheeks seemed to be permanently flushed and his nose was large and sore, a wiry black beard covered all his face though some of it was stained white from where he had been less than carful with the stew.

There was a strength to the man, a hardness despite the flabbiness that hung all around his body, while he had clearly enjoyed the food that came with being a lord Elia got the sense that he did not seemed put off by the idea of hard work. On the wall behind him, hanging mounted, was a large maul.

The man's eyes were narrow but they did not seem to miss anything, he watched them carefully as they approached. Most of his gaze was focused between Elia and Jaime, for a few moments he looked between them before finally he kept his gaze on Jaime. "Well, this is something of a fucking turn up. Who'd ever thought I had have Tywin Lannister's cub in my hall? And his Dornish wife as well."

"We are not married, My lord. I am Princess Elia Martell and I am married to-" Before Elia could continue Lord Godric held up his hand to silence her and Elia bit her tongue, whenever it seemed that something didn't make her upset it instead seemed to make her furious, she would not be happy to be told to keep quiet even before she was pregnant but it seemed that the babe was simply making the feeling worse.

"I am aware, you're married to Eddard Stark. You know that men of the North are not received warmly here, certainly not a whelp of Rickard Stark. That man is the sourest old cunt that I have ever met." Elia felt the need to come to the defence of her goodfather but she found that she could not find the words to use, it was probably for the best. It was bait and she would not bite it.

"Of course, according to King Aerys your marriage has been dissolved and he sent you to Casterly Rock so that you could get used to your new home. I do have to wonder what the king would think if he were to find out you were here, so close to the North?" He mused as he dragged his spoon through his stew and popped some more into his mouth.

"Oh, where are my manners? You both must be starving and your companions must be as well." Lord Godric gestured towards a woman that was off to the side, messy black hair fell limply around her face and once she saw that Lord Godric was gesturing towards her she jumped in surprised and quickly ran out of a small side door.

"My eldest daughter, don't have enough money to pay for a load of servants here. Have some but not a lot, half of the men who brought you are my sons." It wasn't too much of a surprise to Elia, while there were plenty of servents in both the Water Gardens and in Sunspear she was the daughter of a great house and while Dorne was one of the poorer kingdoms it did not mean that she had ever lived in anything less than luxury.

But while the Three Sisters might have been part of the Vale they did not get to partake in it's rich bounty, most of it's wealth came from ships that ran aground and were smashed into wreckage against the sharp rocks in the Bite, the bay that lay in between The North and the Vale.

Many of the sailors on the ships had been worried about crossing it, it was dotted with rocks and you often heard stories of ships being wrecked against them. Elia had not been enthused about crossing the bay either but Winterfell was just past it and they could not have come all this way for nothing, they couldn't turn back now.

Soon several woman, all of various ages, came back into the hall. Now that Elia knew that Lord Godric did make servants of his children she could see a resemblance between some of the women and their father, which sadly did not bare well for them. Elia and Jaime were seated at the high table with some of the Lannister men and a few of Lord Godric's sons.

She and Jaime were placed on Lord Godric's left and right respectively, places of high honour and Elia was certain that she saw more than a few dirty looks being aimed at them but they said nothing and their Lord did not chastise them so Elia did not comment on it. They were soon served their food and Elia had to admit that she felt a great deal more relived.

The Three Sisters were not a courteous place by any means but they did respect the guest right, Lord Godric had invited them into his hall and was giving them food. That meant that they were protected under the guest right. Of course, that only meant that he wouldn't do them any harm while they were under his roof. He could still send a raven to King's Landing and inform the king that they were there,

They were severed Sister's Stew and even the smell of it made Elia feel ravenous, she was not overly fond of fish and the smell of it lately made her feel sick but she did not know what it was about the stew but the smell did not bother her. The stew was severed to them in a trencher of black bread, the stock was made of heavy cream and butter and the stew itself was made up of leeks, carrots, barley, yellow and white turnips, onion cods and three different types of crabmeat and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Elia was certain that she had never had something so delicious in her entire life, it did not have the spice of the food of Dorne but it filled a spot in her and it made her long for the North even more than she had already been doing. Once the stew had been finished, which took close to half an hour by itself, she used her spoon to scrape around the bottom of the trencher to collect any scraps of stew that was left.

She was glad that Jaime had eaten as well, really they were under guest right as soon as Elia had eaten but she felt better because if Jaime had eaten then he was officially under the guest right as well. He was clearly still unsettled by being here and only eaten half of his stew but it was enough, Elia wondered if it would be churlish and greedy to ask if she could have it.

Instead of asking she turned her attention to Lord Godric who had finished his own stew. "A wonderful meal my Lord, I thank you for it." Elia said with a gentle smile.

"It was no trouble of mine my lady, I didn't make it."

"Of course, I give my thanks to your daughters as well." Elia glanced around the hall to where all the Lannister soldiers were sitting, many of them had finished their stew and were drinking deep from tankards that were filled with a ale so dark that it was almost black, Elia had been offered some as well but she had turned it down and had been replaced with a tankard of clear water that was still warm from being boiled clean.

Many of the men were now their second ale and some of them were starting to look at the women in the hall with a look that Elia had seen before and it made her frown. That was not a problem that they needed at the moment and so she turned her attention back on to Lord Godric. "I am sure I speak for all of us when I thank you for the hospitality but I am afraid that we should be going, we plan on setting sail on the morrow."

"Plans can change all the time my lady, the winds might seem fair one moment but you'd be surprised how quickly a storm can come on. The Bite can be treacherous, and even on calm waters it is hardly what I would call safe. Plus, what sort of host would I be if I were allow you to leave my hall on such a cold and bitter night? I assure you that no inn on Sweetsister can match Breakwater castle for comfort."

It took all Elia had not to let the frown she was fighting show on her, looking over the Lord's shoulder she could see that Jaime was not even bothering to fight it and several of the Lannister men closest to the high table had picked up his words and were glancing amongst themselves and the son of their lord, waiting for orders.

"My father would be very grateful for the hospitality you have shown us, my Lord. I am more than certain of that." Jaime spoke and Lord Godric turned to face him and Elia shot the younger man a look over Godric's shoulder, warning him to be careful. "But do you know what else I am certain off? If you try and stop us from leaving your shit stained rock, my father will burn your crap keep to the ground and salt the ashes."

Elia sucked a breath through her teeth and the hiss was made louder by the fact the entire hall had gone quiet, Godric stared at Jaime for a few moments before he quickly grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled him close, his spoon in his other hand which right now he was holding like it was a knife.

Elia let out a shriek and every single chair in the hall scraped against the floor as every man jumped out of their chairs and glared at one another, there was no true advantage as none of the Lannister men were armed but neither were any of Lord Godric's men, all of their sword belts were hanging on pegs that were near the door.

"They say your father shits gold, do you boy?" Lord Godric asked as he tightened his hold on the back of Jaime's hair and he brought the spoon closer. "I bet that I know what you're thinking, what can he do with a spoon? Well, let me tell you I can do quite a bit with it. I can scoop out your eyeballs for one, or maybe I could jam it down your throat and watch you choke."

"Do anything to me and my Father will-

"Your father is not here, he's thousands of miles away hiding under his big Rock and all his armies are going to get here in time to save you if I decided that I really don't want to suffer you anymore." Lord Godric laughed deeply for a moment before he spoke again. "You're handsome, pretty actually, better looking than all my girls. And you never wanted for anything growing up, you're one of the best swordsmen in all seven kingdoms. And you think that throwing your name and your father's name around means that you can get away with whatever you want."

"Learn a lesson from this right now, trust me I am teaching it to you much more gently than some might and I have never been accused of being gentle in my entire life. Your father's name, won't always save you. Now." Godric let go of Jaime's hair but before Jaime could do anything in retaliation Godric put his hands on his chest and shoved him back down into his chair. "Say sorry."

Jaime breathed heavily and his eyes were alight with rage, he looked like he was about to say something but a look from Elia made him sigh and slump into his chair. "I am sorry my Lord, that was unworthy of me."

"Fuh, but not unworthy of me eh?" Before Jaime could respond Lord Godric turned to address the rest of the men in the hall. "All of you take a fucking breath, I am not so stupid as to a kill a son of a powerful lord in my own house, he's my guest and is under my protection. Now all of you fuck off! I need to speak with these two alone."

The Lannister men did not seem thrilled at the idea of leaving them alone with him but when the other men and the woman began to fill out it was clear that they could not stay and so as soon as they stood and turned they began to flood out of the room, before they all left however Elia noticed that all of them took their sword belts back, the message their quite clear about what they would do if any harm was done to the heir of Casterly Rock.

"Pray that you never have as many children as I do, both of you. They never seem to stop eating and when they do, it's only to complain that they do not have enough. Puh, the joy that is children." Lord Godric stood up from his chair and walked around the table, Jaime and Elia following him as he went to stand in front of the fire that roared in the hearth. "why did anyone ever think that children were joyful? They are brought into this world with blood and tears and pain, and if you ask me they never seem to stop causing it."

He turned his head to look at Elia and for a moment she watched as the light of the fire caused the shadows to dance across his face, for a moment it almost looked like there were deep and dark scars gorged across his face. "But you don't need me to tell you that, you'll be having your own soon enough. And I tell you something, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how much they drive you to the last of your wits. You're still going to love them, you don't get a choice."

"I love my sons, I love my daughters. There pains in my ass that never stop whining for even a single second but I do love them." Elia was surprised to see that for just a moment she could see the truth of what he was saying in his eyes, he truly meant every single word of it.

"And I do not want to see that mad man tying them to stakes and burning them to ashes, if he does it to the bloody High Septon then he isn't going to much care about me and mine, is he?" He glanced between Elia and Jaime. "You will both be leaving Sweetsister on the morrow, as soon as day breaks and I don't give a single fuck what the weather is like. I want the both of you gone and neither of you were ever hear."

"I don't care who you speak too, I don't care if you think that you're with someone that you think that you can trust completely and there is no one around that can overhear you. You do not mention me, you do not mention my family and you do not mention that you were ever on Sweetsister. If you have to say you were on any of our islands then say you on Longsister, Rolland could do with a bit of suffering if you ask me."

"We understand completely my Lord, the desire to protect one of your own is something that anyone with a beating heart can understand. No one shall hear from us that we were ever hear on Sweetsister, you have my word." Elia said before considering if she would have to kneel to prove it, she hoped that she didn't have to as she had enough trouble getting out of bed, she didn't want to even think about getting up off of her knees.

"No one will hear it from me as well, and I will make certain that none of my men will speak about it. You have my vow." Jaime swore but Elia knew that he couldn't truly be able to keep to that vow, he could order the soldiers and the sailors not to speak of the fact that they were hear, could order them to swear it but sooner or later something would slip out. In the arms of a whore or after a touch too much ale, the truth would come out and when it did it would eventually reach someone highborn and then it would more than likely reach the Spider and from him it would reach the King. That was the way that it always seemed to do.

"I thank you for that, but your word won't matter much to me. What I want is for you to listen to me very carefully. If the two of you being here brings down ruin on to me and mine, then I swear by the Lady of the Waves then I will come and find you and bring ruin to all that you hold dear, do we understand one another?"

"Perfectly." Elia and Jaime said as though they were one person.

"Good."

"Now that we understand one another My lord, with your leave I think we shall be heading back to our inn." Jaime began but Lord Godric scoffed and shook his head.

"Nonsense, I meant what I said earlier. What kind of host would I be if allowed you to leave my hall on a night like this? And no inn can match Breakwater for comfort. Plus, forgive me my lady but you look like you're going to pop any moment and trust me when I say that you do not want to start having a child on horseback. You'll stay here tonight."

Jaime looked as pleased about that as Elia felt, Lord Godric might not turn them over to Aerys and they were both glad of that but that didn't mean that either of them truly liked the man or wanted to stay in his home for a moment longer. More than anything else, a person's mind could change after a full night's rest and he could decide anything in the morning.

But at the same time she could not deny that the idea of riding down that hill again did not sit well with her and she was so very tired at the moment and the idea of bed that she could walk to sung to her like a siren leading her to her doom. So, she accepted the invitation for the both of them with as much grace as she could muster.

To be true, it did not seem like Lord Godric would take no for answer.

Sooner after she had agreed another of Lord Godric's daughters came into the hall and took her out and lead her to a guest bedchamber, the room was smaller than the one she had at Casterly Rock but that wasn't much of a surprise to her but it did make her feel more like she was an animal that had been locked in a pen.

The other woman helped her into a bath and helped her dress for bed, it was not a pleasant experience whatever so ever as the water was barely warm and the woman did not have a gentle touch. She never thought that she would miss Clara but while the other woman had been spying on her she at least always made sure that her bath water was hot and she didn't pull her hair when she brushed, well, she learned how not to after a while.

Soon she was dressed for bed and the woman left her be as Elia climbed into bed, as soon as she laid down she let out a hiss as she felt a sharp pain in her side and a great deal of movement inside of her and she soon began to rub soothing circles into her stomach once again.

"Not yet, please not yet. Not here." She whispered, half pleading and half praying as she shut her eyes firmly to try and stop her tears from falling. "We're almost there, just one more day. Please, I beg you just one more day."

It took at least another hour of rubbing those soothing circles before the babe finally settled and the pain went away and Elia suddenly felt like sobbing but she knew that would simply cause the babe to move again and so she bite firmly down on her lip and shut her eyes, finally falling into a restless sleep.

End of Chapter Thirty-Nine.

* * *

 **This chapter was important because I wanted to make sure that everyone got an inside look at Elia's mental state and how she's doing which is not good, she managed to get herself away from Casterly Rock but in order to do that she did have to threaten to kill herself, her child and bring on a war which would kill thousands.**

 **She is not handling it well, which I think I captured pretty well.**

 **Anyway, next chapter will be from Jaime's perspective and will be set in White Harbour and I don't feel comfortable saying anything more about that at this time.**

 **As always please review, favourite and follow and please know that I am utterly fine with constructive criticism.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	40. Chapter 40

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty.

Jaime had to admit that he did not expect much from White Harbour, he had heard of it before but it was a city that he had never expected to truly to ever see in his entire life. His father had very little interest in the North and he would likely have never consider betrothing him or Cersei to any northern son or daughter, not even if they were Starks.

But now here he stood on the docks of White Harbour, he still wasn't much impressed. The maester had always told him that it was the smallest of all the cities in Westeros but it seemed even smaller than Lannisport. It didn't help that it was the coldest place that he had ever been, he wasn't sure how anyone could live here and considering her delicate constitution he couldn't even begin to fathom how Elia managed to live her.

And yet the Dornish princess seemed happier then he had ever seen her before, she smiled more brightly when she saw street urchins playing their little games or when she went to the stales to examine the catch of the day. He honestly half expected her to take off running through the streets, laughing and singing like a princess from a song he heard when he was a child.

And he would not begrudge her that, she was home, near enough at any rate and before too long she would be reunited with her husband and she would have their children and if she was wise she would never venture south of the Neck ever again, or at the very least not until the King was dead. Which would hopefully for all of them, not just his family and hers but all the seven kingdoms would not be very much longer.

It seemed an odd thing to think about, the death of a king. It was always something that everyone knew would happen eventually, a king was still just a man after all and the stranger came for them all in the end but for some reason it always seemed to be more of a shock when it happened to a king. A king always seemed like he would live forever and ever until one day they wouldn't.

Aerys had been clinging to life, digging his sword like nails into it and refusing to take them out. Jaime couldn't be sure how the old wretch had been managing it, he was close to the age of his father and while his father was not an old man he wasn't called the Old Lion because he was in the spring of his youth after all. But it wasn't just a matter of age.

The first time he had seen the King when he and Cersei had arrived in King's Landing, he had been shocked. He had briefly thought that perhaps someone had taken a peasants grandfather and had dressed him in royal finery and placed him atop the Iron Throne as some sort of foolish jest but no, this man was the king. He had not done well with hiding his shook, not like Cersei had.

Court was just a battlefield, and this time it was his sister who wore the armour and it was her who wielded the weapons. Thought knowing Cersei as well as he did he knew that she would always have preferred to train with sword and lance and mace but every day that they had spent at court a small part of him always wished that he had some of lessons that Cersei had, it would have made him feel a little more certain of what he was to do.

The king had been in awful shape, his clothes were finely made it could not be denied but they hung off his wretched body, skeletal thin as it was from denying food or drink for so very long and the rich purple of his clothes had been stained brown in several places from where his blood had dried due to the blades of the iron throne biting into his skin. The throne had rejected him, as some would say not that any of them would have the courage to do anything about it.

It was not just his body that was wretched but his mood was a terrible thing to behold as well, the only difference between a good day and a bad day for him seemed to be if someone was getting burned alive in front of the entire court. He could still remember the screams of the poor boy who had been tied to a stake and burnt for the grievous crime of being hungry, the smell was still stuck in his nose.

Jaime shook his head and refused to think any more about the King, the capital, the Prince or Cersei. It would only make him angry and today was a good day, they had finally arrived and he did not wish to ruin it for Elia. It was strange but it made him feel good to know that something he had done had made her this happy, he had brought her back to the North.

Of course, as much as he hated to admit it, it was his fault that she had been forced away from her husband in the first place. Maybe it just felt good because he felt like he had gone some way to mending the wound, at least somewhat at any rate. He wasn't sure if Elia had truly forgiven him or not, they had not honestly spoke about the tourney since the night that he had shown her to the Stone Garden and while she had thanked him for the gesture she had made it clear that she was still not quiet ready to forgive him.

Still, through out their journey to the North she had been talking to him more and more with each day that passed and she had insisted to his father that he be part of the group that took her back to the North.

He wasn't quite sure why he wanted her forgiveness, it had been the king who had done this and he had done this to the both of them and he had only been done what Cersei had asked of him, admittedly in a round about sort of way but that way kept her alive. If he had done as Cersei had asked then Elia would be dead right now. He shouldn't need forgiving.

But he wanted to be, at least a little bit. He hated that it was something that he had done that had made the Dornish woman so miserable, that it was something that he had done that had made her ready to throw herself and her babe into the waves that crashed against Casterly Rock just so she could get away from it all if his Lord Father wouldn't give in to her demands.

He stepped towards her, she had decided to sit down on a barrel to try and catch her breath, and Elia turned her face towards him and granted him a smile that could out shine the sun. "Ser Jaime, isn't it beautiful?" She asked in a voice that made it clear that she had already made her mind up about the city and was only asking to be polite. "I always wanted to visit White Harbour, I admit that this was not the way that I imagined that I would do so but I am here at any rate. I always assumed that I would be staying longer but in the end, it's a only a stop on the way."

"Winterfell is still a way off, I am still surprised that you haven't given birth yet." He muttered as he glanced down at her stomach, he couldn't begin to imagine how it must have felt. To be able to do all she had done and do it while she carried a babe inside of her, Jaime didn't think that he could ever be close to being that strong. "I don't like the idea of you riding the rest of the way there."

Elia sighed heavily, glancing down for a few moments before she looked back up. "I know, I have been fortunate indeed. At the very least in this regard, the idea of riding now seems like the worst of tortures now. I must stay in White Harbour, but I want Ned to be here when it happens. I must send word to him as soon as possible, at the very least he will be on the way."

"Well, then we will need to find a raven which we do not have." Jaime said as he gestured his head back towards where the ships were docked, his father had made it clear that he was not to send any ravens until they arrived at White Harbour. "The only place there will be any ravens will be in Lord Manderly's keep."

"Which I do not think will be much of an issue for us to deal with." Elia said and when she saw Jaime frown she tilted her head to the side and Jaime turned to see at least thirty men dressed in shining silver armour march into the harbour. The armour was clearly of fine make and clutched in their hands, instead of spears and glaives they held shinning tridents.

As soon as his father's men saw them all of them came rushing though none of them drew their arms, one of the men in silver armour approached. He was a tall man who was stout in body and his helm resembled a head thought Jaime could not say who it was meant to be. The man took of his helm and revealed a man who was handsome enough with a blond flowing beard and quiet young, though he was older than Jaime. He had bright blue eyes. "Ser Jaime Lannister, I am Ser Marlon Manderly. Commander of the White Harbour garrison and cousin to our beloved Lord Wyman Manderly. He would ask what business the Lannisters have in White Harbour, your family is not well loved in the North ser."

"This is a port city, is not? Where various goods are traded? My lord father ordered that I accompany this latest shipment of goods as a gesture of good faith that House Lannister does not support the King's decision, though we must respect it. There are some kegs of ale, a few barrels of wine, bolts of silk and spice from across the Narrow Sea and, while she is not a good, a Dornish Princess." Jaime held out his hand and helped Elia stand up from the barrel she had been sitting on, the way Jaime had been standing had blocked the woman from view.

"Princess Elia?" Ser Marlon breathed in disbelief, he looked as though Jaime had just shown him a still living mermaid, singing sweet songs and swimming about in the water as easily as any fish could do so. "Forgive me for not noticing you, my Lady. All the North has heard what had happened to you and Lord Eddard in King's Landing, we are at your service."

"I thank you for that good ser, if you are truly at my service then might I beg a favour from you? I wonder if you would please take me to see Lord Wyman. I must beg a favour from him." Elia said, each word perfectly chosen.

"Of course My Lady, if you would wait but a moment I will see to it that a litter is arranged for you." He turned to yell at two of his men and both of them scattered to go and fetch a litter for her. Ser Marlon turned back to them and addressed Jaime. "I think I speak for us all when I say that I thank you for returning Princess Elia to the North, Ser Jaime. I assume you'll be casting off on the morrow?"

Jaime opened his mouth to answer but in truth he didn't know what the answer to that question was himself, he had been sent to see Elia home and he should be heading back but a part of him did not wish too. At least not yet, he wasn't sure why that was. Perhaps it was simply that he wanted Lord Eddard to see that he had brought his wife home, he wanted the man to thank him. To see that he had done something that he could not.

Yes, that was it.

"I think I shall be staying just a bit longer Ser Marlon, I was charged with the Princess Elia's safety after all. I was charged to see her safely back to her husband and when that is done, and not before, I will return to Casterly Rock." Jaime could hear muttering behind him from his men, the men of the Westerlands were not built for this sort of climate and many of them would want to return but aside from that none of them wanted to keep their Lord waiting any longer than they had too.

Ser Marlon frowned and Elia looked confused but neither of them said anything, soon a litter arrived and Elia was helped inside of it and the two men who had brought it began to carry it through the streets of White Harbour with Jaime, Ser Marlon and both their men following behind them.

It did not take them all too long to reach the New Castle and Jaime was glad of that, it had been an upward climb and it felt as though his legs were going to fall off. At least going back down would be easier, or at the very least he could hope. Elia stepped out of the litter as soon as it was lowered to the ground and she was able to glance around the courtyard for a few moments before both she and Jaime were ushered inside the great hall.

It was certainly the most interesting hall that he had ever been in, it was not a small one to be sure and painted on all the walls it seemed were all the creatures of the sea. Starfishes and crabs and whales and dolphins and sharks and squids, one mural showed a merman with a crown on his head and a trident in his hands doing battle with a great Kraken.

In the centre of the room, atop a raised dais, sat quite possibly the fattest man that Jaime had ever seen in his entire life. His clothes barely seemed to contain him and how he had managed to climb the platform to sit the chair was beyond him. He had the same blond hair and blue eyes as his cousin and he was not bad looking, in his way. Jaime also knew that some wouldn't mind the extra weight.

"Cousin, you've brought lions into the Merman's court. Why?" Lord Wyman's voice was deep and bellowing and Jaime could see that for all the man clearly lacked the self control to put down lamprey pie he clearly did not lack for intelligence as his eyes focused on Jaime. "Not that I am unhappy to have such company in my hall, I am simply wondering what could have possessed Tywin Lannister to send his son and heir this far way from the den?"

"An important matter, my lord." Jaime said as he gestured towards Elia. "This is Elia Nymeros Martell, a princess of Dorne and wife to Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell. Returned home safely."

"By the old gods and the new." Lord Wyman breathed and he heaved himself up from his chair with a groan and stepped down from the raised platform to get a closer look at Elia. "Princess Elia, it does my heart good to see that you are well and returned. We met very briefly at your wedding, though it pains me that we did not speak longer."

"And it pains me that I never got a chance to dance with you, Lord Wyman." Elia said with a smile and Lord Wyman turned as red as a tomato. "I am glad to be back in the North, I wonder if I met beg something of a favour from you."

"You need only ask."

"My time grows nearer and nearer, it could indeed by any day now. I wonder if I might impose on your hospitality and stay in White Harbour until I have had my child."

"Of course my Lady, and as soon I as I am certain that you are settled, word will be sent to Winterfell as soon as possible that you are here."

"Thank you my lord, that is very kind of-oh." A strange look suddenly passed over Elia's face, like she had suddenly forgotten completely where she was and what she was doing.

"Elia? Are you alright?" Jaime asked he reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, that seemed to have shaken Elia out of her stupor and she looked at him with her dark eyes now as wide as saucers. "Elia?"

"Oh dear, I am afraid that instead of saying that I would birth any day now I should have said any moment. It's now, it is happening right now." Every single person in the hall stared at her in a stupor and Jaime felt as though he had been dunked in a bath filled with ice water. Elia groaned and then let out a shriek as her legs buckled and Jaime had to move quickly to stop her from falling to the floor.

"Marlon, fetch the Maester! Now!" Lord Wyman bellowed and the knight did not need to be told twice as he turned and ran out of the room, Jaime swung his arm under Elia's legs and picked her up. She was clutching his doublet so tightly that her knuckles were turning white and she was biting her lip to stop herself from screaming. "Follow me, she should be in a bed!"

Jaime followed Lord Wyman, but not before ordering his men to stay where they are. Elia was not going to give birth with half of the garrison of Casterly Rock watching. Thankfully it did not take them long to reach a large guest chamber, a fire was roaring inside and as soon as Jaime placed Elia down on the bed the Maester came in to the room.

"When did the pains begin?" He asked as he hurried over to Elia's side, placing the flat of his palm to her forehead for a few moments before he began to feel her ankles.

"Just before Marlon was sent to get you." Lord Wyman answered and Jaime was glad of that as he honestly thought that at the moment he would not even be capable of speech.

"I see, the midwifes have been sent for as has the septa but for now my lords I am afraid that I must ask you to both leave the room." Lord Wyman nodded and turned to leave and Jaime was about to follow him but before he could take a step he felt a hand clamp around his wrist and he looked down to see Elia, her eyes wide with fear and panic.

"Don't leave me, please don't. Ashara was supposed to be hear with me." She began to cry, tears rolling down her cheeks as her voice began to break. "Ned was supposed to be hear with me, Jaime please...I beg you, don't leave."

"I won't." He answered, he did not even need to think about it. The vow had slipped out like it was nothing, but it was everything.

"Ser Jaime, this is a woman's trial. A man who is not a maester has no place in it. Now, come along. She is in safe hands." Lord Wyman was about to place his hand on Jaime but he stepped out of his reach.

"Princess Elia has asked me to stay, I am a knight and a lady has asked me a favour. I will not leave her side until she tells me otherwise, I will stay here my lord. What are you prepared to do to keep me out?" Lord Wyman glanced between him, the Maester and Elia before he let out a sigh and turned to waddle out the room, shutting the door gently behind him.

"If you are staying, then try and keep her as clam as possible." The Maester commanded and Jaime nodded before he dropped to his knees and knelt in front of Elia, offering her his hand that she could use to squeeze if she had too. Elia took it with a smile, one that sadly did not last long as a scream broke through it and Elia squeezed his hand with such force that for a moment he thought that every single bone in his hand had been broken.

What happened next was not something that Jaime truly wished to dwell on, maybe that was why men were not often allowed to attend the births. Maybe they were not strong when it came to this thing but despite what he felt he would not leave her. When the Septa and the midwives arrived there was an argument and they all insisted that Jaime left but Elia had screamed and sobbed and clung to him and that was the end of that.

He truly didn't know how long they had been in that room for but the babe still had not come, the sky outside the window had turned dark and the fire had to be built again at least twice. His knees were aching and Elia looked so very small and pale in that bed. "I can not do this. Oh gods, oh sweet Mother font of mercy I can not do this."

"You can." Jaime answered firmly but Elia simply shook her head back and forth and sobbed.

"I can't. I can't."

"You have too, because if you don't then you are going to die and then your baby is probably going to die and do you want that? No, you are quite possibly one of the strongest people I have ever known. I've known men who wish they could have half your strength, half your courage. Now, you can do this. Do you understand?" The room had gone silent and Elia stared at him like she had never seen him before but after a moment she nodded.

It seemed like hours later when finally, with a loud scream from Elia and a muffled grunt from Jaime as he felt the bones in his hands bring grinding into dust, a tiny cry filled the air. The maester was there to cut the cord that connected mother and child and one the midwives wrapped it in a soft wool blanket. "It's a boy, my lady."

Elia was exhausted but as soon as she heard those words her eyes shone with a twinkle and she was about to say something when suddenly she shrieked and the Maester was at her side one again, looking in between her legs before he rose to look at her face. "I am so sorry my lady, I know that you are tired but I am afraid that we are not quite done here."

"There's another one?" Elia breathed.

"There is indeed."

Elia breathed through her nose and looked at Jaime. "I can do this."

"No doubt."

The sun was just peaking through the clouds when finally another cry filled the air, the babe was wrapped in a similar blanket that their brother had and the midwife smile. "Another boy my lady."

As soon as both of the babes were properly clean they were handed to Elia who took them both and held them close to her, Jaime looked down at them and smile. They had olive skin like their mother but theirs was a tad lighter which he had to assume was due to their father. They were both as bald as old men and their eyes were shut so he could not tell what their colour was.

He turned to look at Elia and she was looking down her sons with what could only be described as an expression of true love on her face as she used her free hand to brush a finger over one of the babes nose.

Jaime did not think he had ever seen something so beautiful in his entire life.

Oh.

Oh no.

Oh no no no.

He was so fucked. He was a dead man.

Was it bad that he did not mind?

End of Chapter Forty.

* * *

 **This was exhausting to write, I hope that you all appreciate that. I know that a certain decision I made in this chapter might prove controversial but if you don't like then you don't have to read. Keep in mind, this doesn't mean anything and this is still a Ned/Elia fic first and foremost.**

 **Next chapter will be a Ned chapter, will have a small time skip and will finally feature the reunion of Ned and Elia.**

 **Please leave a review, a follow and a favourite and as always constructive criticism is welcome.**

 **One more thing before I go, I can't promise I'll use them but if you have any suggestions for names for their sons then I will consider them, leave them in a review or drop me a PM.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345**


	41. Chapter 41

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** One

When the raven had arrived with message between it's claws, Ned had not wanted to believe it. The old saying always went that black wings brought black words and recent events in his life had thought him that was true more often than it was not but that day all those wings had brought had been joy, and more than a little disbelief. It seemed like something that would only occur in his wildest dreams.

Elia was back in the North, she was safe in White Harbour as a guest of Lord Wyman and she had given birth, to two boys. He was a father. That was the part that seemed to him the most unbelievable. It was like something out of a dream, how many men wished for even one son and he had been blessed with two. He would not have minded if they had been girls, but he had sons.

The moment the raven had arrived he had begged his father to give him leave to ride for White Harbour as soon as possible but his father had not granted it to him, he had been frustrated but he would never act against his father's wishes. But as time passed he did begin to wonder what he was waiting for, he only seemed to be reading the scroll over and over again. As if he was looking for some hidden meaning.

Thankfully, before the days threatened to turn into weeks, his father had finally relented and granted him leave to go to White Harbour but he had made it clear that he would be going with him as would Lyanna and Benjen while Brandon stayed behind to rule Winterfell in his stead, Ned wasn't sure about his father traveling even that distance but he could not be deterred no matter what any of them said.

And so they had set out and rode down the White Knife until White Harbour began to grow slowly but steadily in the distance, as they rode into the city Ned had noticed that there were ships with golden figureheads and crimson sails, Lannister ships. The letter from Lord Wyman had mentioned that it had been the Lannisters that had brought Elia back, that it had been Jaime Lannister who had accompanied her all the way North.

To say he had been conflicted about this information would be something of an understatement, there were no words for how he felt now that Elia was returned safely but it had been because of Jaime Lannister that Elia had been taken from him and that he had not been able to be there while his sons were born, why he had not been the first to see them.

He could not deny that every now and then over the past several months the thought of wrapping his hands around Jaime Lannister's throat and choking the life from him had not held a certain appeal to him. But now he had brought Elia back, he owed him a debt. Though the thought of that did leave him with a sour taste in his mouth.

Regardless, he had decided not too pay too much thought on that. At least not for now, for now he simply wished to see his wife and hold her and their sons until the eternal summer came to them.

He was pulled out of those happy thoughts when Lord Wyman arrived in Merman's Court, sitting on the great chair on the raised platform. The man was fat but that was common enough for those of House Manderly, his father had always said that the Manderlys were rich as they could often feast on the bounty of the sea. No Manderly was ever likely to know true hunger, not even in the darkest of winters.

"My lord of Stark, there are no words to describe what an honour it is to have you in my hall, though I will admit that I hoped the events that lead to the circumstances which brought you here would've been better for all of us." Lord Wyman spoke eloquently, a trait of his southern blood and those who descended from the First Men tend to be a little more blunt in their speech and their courtesies tended to be more rough around the edges.

His father did not seem put off, however. "My lord of Manderly, I thank you for taking my son's wife, and my first grandsons, as your guests. Such loyalty and kindness is not soon forgotten, I assure you of that now." His voice took on a slightly colder note at that moment. "However, I can not deny some concern. It seems that there are lions in every corner of White Harbour."

"My lord is perceptive, it seems that the Young Lion will refuse to leave until Princess Elia is reunited with your Ned in sight." Lord Wyman offered him a nod which he returned but he was certain that he saw something he didn't like gleaming in his eyes. "perhaps some command from Lord Tywin though I can not be sure, there is something that I feel that you should all be made aware of though I am unsure how much import it is. When Princess Elia's time came, she was, quite understandably, greatly upset. She asked that-

"Lord Wyman!" It happened so fast that for a split second Ned didn't realise that it had been him who had spoken but when all the eyes in the hall turned on to him he realised that it had indeed been his outburst. "Forgive me my Lord, I do not mean to be rude it is only that I have not seen my wife in...I honestly do not know how long it has been, the days seemed to painful to count at times. I wish to see her, more than anything in the world at the moment, so if I might have your leave?"

If Lord Wyman was angered by the outburst then he did not show it, perhaps it was due to the fact that he had not been a lord for very long as his father had only recently slipped away from the world. He was not an old man himself and lordship seemed new to him. He offered him a kind smile. "Of course, cousin would you be so kind as to show Lord Ned to his wife's quarters?" The lord of White Harbour asked his captain of the guard.

As soon as the captain had accepted the task Ned turned to his father and when he nodded Ned knew that he had his permission to go. As they were walking out of the room he could hear Lord Wyman complimenting Lyanna on her beauty, he did not think that the lord was married as of yet but it didn't matter, Lyanna was still betrothed to Robert. He hadn't truly heard her complain about the match since their father's attack although she still did not seem to be completely enthused by it.

As Ned and Ser Marlon walked through the walls of the New Palace, drawing close to the quarters that had been assigned to Elia, Ned noticed something. A voice, a woman was singing. It took him a moment to realise that the voice belonged to Elia, how long had it been since he heard that voice? In all truth he did not wish to consider it.

As they drew closer, the words of the song became clearer to him. "The Father's face is stern and strong, he sits and judges right from wrong. He weighs our lives the short and long, and loves the little children. The Mother gives the gift of life, and watches over every wife. Her gentle smile ends all strife, and she loves her little children."

"The Warrior stands before the foe, protecting us wherever we go. With sword and shield and spear and bow, he guards the little children. The Crone is very wise and old, and sees our fates as they unfold. She lifts her lamp of shining gold to lead the little children."

"The Smith, he labours day and night, to put the world of men to right. With hammer, plow and fire bright, he builds for the little children. The Maiden dances through the sky, she lives in every lover's sigh. Her smiles teach the birds to fly, and gives dreams to the little children." Ned knew that there was more to the song, though no songs to the Seven had ever been sung in Winterfell, but no more words were spoken then. Only a gentle humming filled the air then.

A door stood at the end of the corridor, why did such a simple sight fill him with trepidation and made it feel like he had just shoved his hands into a furnace? A hand that was cloaked in mail came down on to his shoulder and he turned his head to face Ser Marlon who offered him a smile and gestured towards the door. It had to be done.

Ned reached out with hand and pushed the door open, the hinges seemed to scream their protest but the door did not care as it swung open to reveal the chamber beyond. It was a modest chamber. at least for the standards of a great lady but the room felt comfortable with a fire roaring in the heath. Standing in front of two small cribs, a babe in her arms and dressed in a gown of orange silk with a cloak of white sable thrown over her shoulders and her dark curls contained in a hair net that had been studded with sapphires, was Elia.

Elia turned when she heard the door open and the soft smile froze on her face, her black eyes widened in shock and then began to well with tears. Ned didn't know what happened but soon his feet were carrying him across the room and he took his wife into his arms and joined their lips together. She tasted of the sun and oranges and something that he had forgotten that he had needed.

He could not say how long they stood together, embracing one another. Ser Marlon did not interrupt them so he had to assume that at some point he had seen fit to leave them be, he didn't even think they had even stopped kissing one another but soon a tiny whimper from in-between them caused Elia to pull away and look down at the babe in her arms, her voice becoming a litany of soothing coos.

"I do believe that we we're crushing him my lord." Elia said with a small laugh after the babe had finally calmed down, his eyes were dropping and one of his tiny fists were wrapped tightly around one of Elia's fingers. Her dark eyes were still wet but no more tears fell down her cheeks, though her smile was a touch tremulous and that was akin to a dagger through Ned's heart.

"This is your firstborn, and your heir. I did not name him as I wished to wait for you. Our second son is asleep in his crib." Elia glanced towards said crib before she turned back to look at Ned, she reached out to cup his cheek and that simple touch made his heart swell. "Would you like to hold him?"

Ned hated that his tongue seemed to be failing him today, there was so much that he wanted to say to her and yet it felt as unwieldy as a lance. Instead, he simply nodded and held out his hands trying his best to mimic the position that Elia was making. He had some vague memories of holding both Lyanna and Benjen when they had been born but Lyanna had come when he had been practically been little more than a babe himself and with Benjen his mother had been growing weaker and weaker that he had barely focused on what he was doing when he had been holding him.

As soon as the babe was placed in his arms he was terrified for a moment that he would drop him but he didn't, he had him. The babe seemed to notice that he wasn't in his mother's arms and he began to squirm. His eyes opened and Ned found himself staring into grey eyes that were exactly like his own, framed in a chubby face.

The babe opened his mouth and he began to wail, Ned knew that it shouldn't bother him much as babes cried all the time but he could not deny the stabbing pain in his heart for a moment nor did he object when Elia took him back into her arms. She kissed the babe's forehead and hummed to him and after a few moments his wails turned into whimpers and his whimpers turned into silence before his mother placed him into to one of the cribs.

"I'm sorry Ned, he doesn't like anyone who isn't me I'm afraid. He kicked a handmaiden who picked him up so hard that I think he might have broken he wrist." Elia walked over to the other cradle and reached in to it to pick up another babe and she walked back over to him. "But this little man does seem much more willing to receive attention."

Elia handed the babe to him, this one was thinner than his brother and he wondered for the first time if Elia had enough milk to feed them. He had always found Elia to be one of the most beautiful women in the world from the moment that he had first looked at her and women in the North were expected to feed their young but that did not change the fact that Elia had thin breasts and they might not be able to hold enough milk to feed both babes at once.

He would need to speak to father about arranging a wet nurse to help her but that could wait for now and he would not bring it up yet, he did not wish to upset her after only now having been reunited with her. Ned glanced back down at the boy and smiled.

The boy was staring up at him with wide eyes and his fist shoved into his mouth, copious amounts of drool leaking out around the fist. He had dark eyes that clearly belonged to his mother but the few wisps of hair atop his head were the same brown as Ned's own.

He bent his head and pressed a kiss to the babe's forehead before he looked up at Elia who was looking at them both with a fond smile on her face. Ned reached out and cupped her cheek, using his thumb to brush it gently. "You've done so well, my lady. There are no words that I can find that would be enough to thank you for this."

"Thank you my Lord, but please Ned. Call me by my name now, it has been too long since I've heard it from someone I love." Elia whispered and leaned into Ned's touch. Ned swallowed heavily and stepped closer, leaning into whisper into his lady wife's ear.

"Elia. I love you."

Elia shivered and for a moment Ned thought she was going to cry but then she seemed to regain her composure and looked him in the eye. "I love you as well, my sweet lord." With that she walked back to the other cradle and picked up the older babe and rocked him gently. "And speaking of the matter of names, these little lords both need one. I feel bad simply referring to them as...them. Have you any ideas?"

"Have you?" Ned asked as he stepped forward and looked down at both of the babes, it was odd but he had been so bust worrying about Elia and the babes that he hadn't even stopped to consider what he might want to name them. It hadn't seemed important at the time.

"I thought of a few names, but there were very few that I could think of that seemed to fit and there was no one else to discuss them with. No one that I wanted too, at any rate."

Ned hummed and looked down at his younger son for a few moments, he briefly thought of all his brothers. "Brandon. Benjen. Robert." All good and strong names but none seemed to fit either of the little lords. "Rickard?" He loved his father but that didn't seem right either.

"Doran, Oberyn, Mors, Olyvar." Elia hummed over the names and seemed to be pondering them before she shook her head. "Elron, that was my father's name thought I must admit that I do not think it fits. It seems something of an old man's name. Lorenzo, a male version of my mother? No, that sounds silly."

"Torrhen?" Ned asked and he had to admit that he liked that one. "For the older boy, after king Torrhen Stark, a King of Winter."

"And now that I think of it, I actually do like Mors. Not after my brother, but my ancestor. Who was lord of what would be Sunspear and who wed Nymeria and made us princes and princesses." Elia smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to the older babe, to Torrhen's, forehead. "Torrhen and Mors."

"Torrhen and Mors." Ned said with a smile of his own and pressed a kiss to Elia's cheek, suddenly Elia let out a large yawn and her eyes began to drop and she had to sit at the end of the bed to stop herself from falling. Ned quickly sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry Ned, I find that I tire more easily now. I wasn't able to get out of bed for days after the birth." Elia spoke with a sad smile as she reached over brushed a thumb against Mors cheek, the babe looked up at his mother with wide eyes. He seemed to be curious about everything.

"It is nothing that you need to apologise for, wait just a moment." Ned carried Mors over to his cradle and placed him inside before walking back to pick up Torrhen, thankfully he was asleep and thus did not cry, before placing him inside of his own cradle.

Ned walked back to the bed and crawled on top of it he, he made Elia lay down and stared into her dark eyes. "I love you, you are home, and we will never let them separate us again. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"Good, now rest love please. We are all hear and you are safe, I will be hear when you wake and we may speak of whatever you wish." Ned pressed a kiss to her forehead and held Elia until her breathing evened out and her eyes slipped shut.

It occurred to Ned then, something he hadn't considered, as he listened to his wife breath as he held her in his arms and listen to his sons moving in their sleep that for the first time in a very, very long time. That he could say without a doubt in his mind, that he was truly happy.

End of Chapter Forty-One

* * *

 **So, this was shorter than I originally planned as I was going to have a Jaime/Ned confrontation and have the rest of the Starks met the babes as well but it was the reunion that people wanted more than anything and that was what I wanted to give you.**

 **So, this was literally a short and sweet chapter and I hope everyone liked it, I hope you liked the names I chose as well.**

 **Please review, favourite and follow.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	42. Chapter 42

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Two

It was strange how such little things could have such a firm grip on her heart, she had heard stories of course that the love between a mother and a child was instantaneous. But she had heard just as many stories about mothers who didn't love their children. The septon at Sunspear had always said that a mother that did not feel the love for her child was a miserable creature. That she had rejected the light of the Seven and would spend the rest of her days wandering in the first of the seven hells.

She didn't think it was fair, love took time and love took work. Who was to say that at times the love for children was any different? A child was just a person as well and Elia did not love all the people she had ever met. Children could be terrible as well, they could grew into terrible people.

She was lucky, she did already love her children, she wanted them more than anything in the world. She had done from the moment she had found that they were growing inside of her. She just wondered if she truly deserved to love them, she was willing to kill them and herself in order to bring ruin to the people who had separated her from Ned.

She had not had too, Tywin Lannister had been smart enough to realise that he couldn't fight off the combined might of the North and Dorne and the Stormlands and the Vale. But the thought of how she had been willing to do it, to end all their lives just to bring misery down on the house that had scorned her made her feel terrible, it made her feel like she was a monster. Maybe she was a monster.

But every time Mors sniffled and she soothed him or Torrhen smiled up at her with a mouth will no teeth, she knew that she had made the right choice. Her sons might have been happy growing in the Westerlands but they would never have what they would deserve. Here they would be loved and while they would be no kings or princes or Lord Paramounts but they would be loved, they would be truly happy here and that was more than enough for her, and ensuring that was worth anything.

Elia had woken from her sleep when she had heard Torrhen crying, he had been louder than his brother from the moment that he had left her. He almost seem like a storm that had been trapped inside the body of the babe, when he was upset he did not cry, he wailed. It was not all bad in truth, when her eldest babe was happy he squealed in delight and he was always happy for her.

The only problem was when his wails woke his brother, Mors was a quieter babe by far and she imagined that was something he had received from his father but when ever his older brother's crying woke him from his sleep he could cry for just as loud and just as long. She was still not able to stand, the birth had taken a great deal out of her and her bones ached with a deep tiredness that did not seem to abate.

The thought of standing had been painful and she had already done so once today, when Ned had came to her and she did not wish to stand again. In truth Elia did not think that she could, not now. She had to wake Ned now and ask him to bring both of them to her, he had done with a smile though she had to shake him several times in order to wake him.

Torrhen was in her arms as he had been hungry, it almost seemed as though her eldest babe was never full and thus she often had to give him more milk than she did his brother, which simply had the effect of making her feel worse that she had to spend most of her milk on feeding one of her babes and not the other. She supposed that a wet nurse would need to be found to help her but it would not reflect well on her.

She had learned that in the North it was expected for noble ladies to feed their own children, she had not minded the information when it was given to her though it had come as a surprise. A southern lady was expected to not breastfeed as it interfered with her ability to breed more children for her lord, she hadn't liked that as she had always wanted to feed her own children but even in Dorne she would have been expected to hand her babes over to a wetnurse.

But now even now she had the opportunity, she could not even do that right. Another failure, the North would look down on her for, kinder people would pity her. The frail bride of their lord's second son, how much of a shame it was when he could have been married to one of their strong northern daughters who were at least more likely to survive birthing their children, wouldn't be trapped in bed for days and days afterwards and would have enough milk in their breasts to ensure that all children born to him would be able to grow strong.

When Elia felt a tear rolling down one of her cheeks she brought up her hand and brushed it away, she would not cry. It was a childish impulse and it was not one that she would indulge. She was a mother now, and she would be there to stop the tears. She had to be stronger then she felt than she was, she didn't have any other choice.

Eddard was holding Mors, their younger son was a quiet babe who barely ever cried and she had found that she loved him all the more for that, her own mother had always told her that every mother always prayed for a quiet babe, it would mean that there would be far fewer headaches that they would have to endure. She and Doran had been quiet babes as well according to their mother as had Mors and Olyvar.

Also according to their mother the gods had paid her back for all those quiet babes by giving her Oberyn, who when upset could cry for hours and would not allow any of his nurses even a moments sleep. Elia had been forced to share a nursery with her brother as there was only a year between them, and even to this day she was certain that she could still hear the echoes of those cries ringing in her ears.

A soft rain was falling outside of the window and light was streaming in from the late afternoon sun, the sun always seemed brighter when it was raining but it was never as bright as it was in Dorne. Despite the bright light however it did not take long for both of their sons to slip back into the embrace of their dreams once her oldest boy had been feed and her youngest could settle without the threat of his brother once again waking him.

Ned walked over to the two large cradles, which had been gifts from Lord Manderly and Elia knew that she would have to take them back with Winterfell so to avoid insulting him but the cribs were finely made and she would have no issue with bringing them back with her for that reason it was simply the fact that it was clearly a brazen political move on Lord Wyman's part.

She was already in his debt for him allowing her to stay here as a guest, he didn't need to do any more. She knew that it was partly expected but she just hated that someone was already using her sons as pawns in the great game. She had wanted to keep them away from it for as long as possible, if she ever introduced them too it at all.

The North had no time for the game, at least not enough time to play it openly. It would have kept them safe, as would their status as sons of the second son of a great lord. She had once dreamt about being the queen, Rhaegar's Queen, but what she wanted more than ever now was for her children to be safe and for her children to be Ned's.

She had one of those things and she would do anything to make sure that the other happened, anything in the world that was required of her. If she got hurt then that was fine, she was a Martell, a princess of Dorne, she could endure so long as those she loved were safe and happy.

Ned had just finished putting Mors down and walked over to the bed, Elia held out Torrhen for him to take. Once the babe had been moved he squirmed in his sleep and for a moment Ned looked so terrified that he would wake up and cry again that Elia had to place her palm over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

How could such a man be afraid of something so tiny?

Torrhen was soon placed in his own crib next to his brother's and Ned came back to sit on the foot of the bed before he reached out with his hand and cupped Elia's face, his thumb gently stroking the skin and Elia closed her eyes to bask in the tenderness, loving every single moment of it. The warmth that this man had only for her.

"My lady, are you feeling better?" He asked gently and Elia felt terrible that she didn't feel better, even at the moment her eyes felt heavy and all she wanted to do was to go back to sleep. She always knew that her sickness was going to make it all difficult on her but she had hoped that she would have found some extra hidden strength inside of her but so far, if she had it, it seemed to be alluding her.

"I feel better than I did." It wasn't saying much but it was the only thing close to a lie that she felt comfortable with telling him, and it wasn't a lie. She did feel better than she had and considering after the birth of her sons she had fallen asleep soon after and they hadn't been able to wake her up for close to two days after and they had to feed her with honey and water.

It had terrified her, not so much the thought of dying itself though she imagined that would always hold a certain fear over her, it was simply the fact that she didn't want to leave her children alone. She had no doubt in her mind that Ned would be an excellent father of course, but she had brought them into the world and she wanted to help them through it for as long as she could.

Her words seemed to make Ned feel a bit better as he graced her with one of his warm smiles, rare as they were from what many who misjudged him would assume as a cold man. Ned wasn't cold, shy to be sure and not someone with who it could be easy to speak to at times but she didn't doubt that anyone who could break through the cold shell would see someone who was loyal and loved with his entire heart.

And she had been lucky enough to see that for herself, to be embraced by it.

"I am glad to hear it, I can not wait for all of us to return to Winterfell. I want our sons to see where they came from, to understand what it means to be Starks even if they will never sit there." He smiled and lowered his hand to take hers, holding it gently. "And, when we are allowed a few moments to ourselves which I have no doubt will be few and far between, I would quite enjoy taking you down to the hot springs once again."

Elia smiled brightly, the memory of that day had always been pleasant for her to dwell upon when her sadness had threatened to overwhelm her when she had been a guest of the Lannisters. It wasn't just the act itself that made her smile, it was everything about those moments in the scant light, the feeling of Ned all around her, the feeling of Ned inside of her, the way the water soaked deep into her bones and soothed the deep ache that was always present in them and that she had long ago learned to hide as best as she could.

It had been a wonderful morning, and one that she had hoped to repeat as many times as possible but Oberyn's letter had invited her south and her love for her brother had made her want to see him before anything else. The idea that she would be in any danger hadn't even occurred to her, she had been so foolish, she had known even then that King's Landing was a viper's nest with a mad king ruling over it all.

She had been a fool, she had let her heart get in the way of her head. If she had half as much sense as she liked to think that she had then she would have written back to Oberyn and tell him to run back to Dorne as fast as possible, it was a wide gaping pit that drew everyone in and kept them there. She had to wonder if Aegon the Conqueror would have begun to build the city where he did if he had any idea of what it had turned into now.

She wondered what he would think were he to see what had become of his family, the man sitting on the iron throne barely more than a giant scab who barely eat or drink because all around him all he heard and saw were treasons being plotted against him. A man who was a monster to his own wife, who terrified his youngest son. Only Rhaegar was a true dragon, and there was little that he could do.

"I can not wait for us to return either." She spoke, trying to get her mind away from the thoughts about the family that if things had been different she might have been a part of. "Soon we shall go, each day a little more of my strength returns to me. I do not think it will be very long now."

"You may take as much time as you need, my lady. I do not wish to rush, all that matters to me now is that you are here with me, and you are safe. And they are safe." Ned cupped her face and joined their lips together once again and Elia allowed herself to melt into the embrace until Ned pulled away from her. "Do you plan on telling your brothers that you are here, of course you will."

Elia frowned slightly, she would normally not waste any time in writing to Doran and informing him that she was safe but with the Mad King's paranoia and his actions as of late he would more than likely be watching for any ravens travelling long distances and if Varys told him about one that had been sent from the North to Dorne...it would not be a good idea.

If nothing else Doran was not stupid, he would have spies in the Westerlands and at least one or two in Casterly Rock but none of her brother's agents would be foolish enough to approach her, it would simply tip the Lannisters off. Doran was more than likely aware that she was no longer in Casterly Rock and was now finally home, the only thing she had to wonder was did he think that she had been heading for Dorne?

If he had found out that she was no longer in the custody of the Lannisters then she supposed it was only natural that he would assume that she would be heading straight for Dorne, it was a much shorter journey from Lannisport to Dorne then it was from Lannisport to White Harbour. It was odd but at the time, while she had been making up her plan on how to get Lord Tywin to let her leave she hadn't spared much of any thought to Dorne, she had been thinking about White Harbour, the North and Ned.

That realisation made her feel awful, not only was she a terrible mother but she was also a terrible sister who didn't care that her brothers were both probably worrying for her at this very moment, of course with Oberyn there was no probably and he was more than likely tearing at the walls this very moment, she hated to think what Doran would be doing to keep him under control. Their older brother would not have Dorne dragged into a war that they could not wine, it was possible that he had imprisoned their brother and his daughters in the Spear Tower.

She hated to think of her nieces being imprisoned, Obara was a strong headed girl but Elia wasn't sure how she would be able to cope with being imprisoned, worse yet she didn't know how she would react on finally being let out. Nymeria had a cooler head but when angered she could be just as rash as her elder sister, thankfully it took a great deal for her ire to be raised.

And Tyene. poor, sweet Tyene who was little more than a babe. The thought of her sitting in a dark cell and crying for her father and her sisters was as painful to her as a dagger being planted in the dark. She could only hope that she knew Doran as well as she thought that she did and that he could never be that cruel, but then wasn't that part of the problem? She knew Doran Nymeros Martell, her brother. She understood him. She wasn't sure if she truly knew Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne.

They weren't the same people, she had learned that lesson along time ago. When their mother had died, Doran had taken over planning her betrothal without a second thought. He always asked her opinions on how it was going but there was never any doubt that she would have to be married. When Doran was the prince, he was not her brother. It was a lesson that she had learned but Oberyn had not yet.

Ned seemed to notice that she was in a dark mood and so he placed his hand under her chin to tilt her head up to look into her eyes, he offered her a smile and Elia tried her best to return it. Though. it was clear by the frown that soon replaced the smile on Eddard's face that it did not seem convincing. "Write a letter to them, I think I know what you are thinking and I agree. We do not know how the Mad King will react if he learns that you are returned but I think that we can assume that he will not take it well. Regardless, a single rider has no reason to be stopped."

The thought did grant her some little comfort, despite what was said about him the Spider wasn't everywhere at every time, he couldn't be. She would write a letter, and then she and Ned would confer with Lord Rickard about it. She wouldn't want to place either side of her family in any danger, not unless she had too. Not again.

There was a sudden knock at the door and Ned stood up from the bed and walked over to the door, he pulled it open a crack to see who was outside and then turned her and told her that he would just be a moment before he stepped out. She frowned slightly as she was left alone for those few moments but soon the door opened and Ned stepped inside. "My family is here, they want to see and meet the babes but if you don't feel that you are ready then I can send them away."

"No, no of course not. I would love to see them, I've missed them all." She spoke and Ned smiled at the words before he turned and opened the door and ushered his father, sister and younger brother inside. She was pleased to see that Lord Rickard seemed to have recovered from the heart attack that he had suffered, he was standing as tall as he had done before the incident though she couldn't help but notice that one of his hands did seem to be trembling somewhat.

Lyanna seemed taller than when Elia had last seen her, when she had first met the girl she had just begun to turn from a girl into a woman but now she was almost completely a woman now. And that could only mean that her wedding to Robert Baratheon was getting nearer and nearer, which she was more than certain the girl was waiting for with baited breath.

To be fair to her the girl had not been complaining about the match as much after what had happened to her father and she did have a legitimate reason to complain, while it had not been much Elia at least had some say in who she was wed too, Lyanna had none what so ever. It was a ridiculous practice, to wake a girl up one day and tell her that she was to be wed to someone that she had never met before in her entire life.

Elia had been lucky, she had met Ned once or twice before at a few small feasts here or there and it did not take her long to grow fond of him and from that fondness had soon grown love. She was beyond lucky in truth, more women than men would like to admit never became happy with their matches and simply endured in their misery until their husband died, taking what little joy where they could and when they could.

She hadn't spoke to Ned about it yet as he knew how much he cared for Robert, he had included him in the names he considered for their sons just after his brothers by birth. It would not be an easy topic to bring up as she knew that Ned loved his sister but Ned loved Robert as well, he probably knew him better than he did any of his actual brothers. It was a hard position to be stuck in, she knew. In truth there was little that Ned could do, even if Ned decided to protest the match which Elia did not think that he would do as the second son there was little that his opinion meant in this matter.

It made her feel sad for Lyanna, the girl had been something of a pain at first but after time had passed Elia had found herself growing quiet fond of the girl and by the time they had left to go to King's Landing she had been close to calling the girl a friend, though she had always been closer to Catelyn and Ashara instead of her. It was a shame, if ever a girl had been born in the wrong place then it was Lyanna.

She would do well in Dorne, she thought. She could almost see the girl on the back of a sand steed, riding through the dunes with the sun shining down on her and her lovely black hair flowing behind her in the wind. Yes, Lyanna would more than likely be happy there.

Of course, then she thought about Lyanna meeting her brother and the thought sent a chill up her spine and made her realise that perhaps the gods were wise to keep them as far apart as possible. Lyanna and Oberyn, Elia did not see how the realm would be able to survive a fortnight.

Benjen did not seem much different either, he had grown taller slightly and his face seemed to be shedding the plumpness of childhood. As soon as he saw her he offered a warm smile that Elia was only too ready to return to him, it hadn't occurred to her until now exactly how much she had missed the boy until right this moment.

There was no sign of Brandon or Catelyn but that did not surprise her, after what had happened to Lord Rickard, Brandon had begun to take on greater responsibility and it was often the duty of the firstborn child to rule in their father's stead when they were gone. Catelyn would have course stayed by his side, if they weren't married by now then Elia would be extremely surprised as she did not think either Lord Hoster nor Lord Rickard would be willing to wait much longer.

What did surprise her however that there was no sign of Ashara what so ever, her absence hurt more then she had expected. But of course, she hadn't been expecting her to be absent. Ashara had always been there when she truly needed her to be and to see that this time she wasn't after all that had happened, it did hurt. "Where is Ashara?"

"She wanted to come, but Lauryn was feeling unwell and she didn't want to leave her alone. She sends her love and she says that she can't wait to see you. Also, she wants to be their godmother." Lyanna explained as she came to sit at the foot of the bed, Elia laughed at the words and shook her head. "Are you feeling alright? We've all been worried about you."

"I am feeling much better than I have been, thank you for being worried about my Lyanna but I am honestly well enough. I am home now and there is nothing for any of us to be worried about." Of course that wasn't true, after what had happened she could feel it deep in her bones just as clearly as she could feel the ache.

War was coming on the wind, all it would take was one tiny spark and it would ignite a wildfire that might leave nothing standing once all was said and done. She hated to think what it could be that would set it all in motion, whatever it was would likely not survive to see the end of it.

"Can I hold them?" Benjen asked and Elia turned her head to see the thin boy standing over Mors's crib, staring down at her little baby. Ned stood up with a small frown, walked over to the crib and grabbed his younger brother's upper arm and began to drag him away, ignoring his brother's complaints.

"We only just got them to settle down Benjen, I don't want them to wake up." Ned said sternly and Benjen crossed his arms and pouted heavily. Elia and Lyanna shared a smile and it only grew when Lord Rickard came up and swatted Ned behind the ear. "Father!"

"Oh enough Ned, they won't wake up if we are just to hold them. Princess Elia, may I?" Elia nodded and Rickard smiled as he walked over to Mors crib and picked the slumbering babe out of the crib, Ned sighed and walked over to Torhen's crib and took him out as well.

There were coos and mutters and promises made and kisses pressed to foreheads and tiny hands, Lyanna was terrified both times as she held both of her nephews, staring down at them having gone so pale that she was almost see through and her eyes had turned to the size of dinner plates and while Elia did not say it out loud she was glad that the girl was sitting on the bed with her and Elia was ready to lunge forward if she happened to drop either of them.

But she didn't, she was clearly not comfortable but she did not drop them and that at least was the more important thing.

What surprised her was how well that Benjen actually managed, as the youngest of the Stark children Elia couldn't imagine that he had ever held any babies before now but he hold both of his nephews with an effort less ease, if it looked as if they were going to wake up he soothed them and Elia saw the surprise she felt mirrored on Ned's face.

It was Lord Rickard who nearly made her cry however, the man did not smile often. He was stern and serious and commanded respect but when he held his first two grandsons and pressed a kiss to both of their foreheads, perhaps for the first time Elia did not see Lord Rickard of House Stark, she saw Rickard Stark who had just become a grandfather and was holding his grandsons for the very first time.

It seemed like hours passed but at the end of them both of the boys were placed back in their cribs, she had Ned keep an eye on which was which as she did not want to start calling them by the wrong names, and Lyanna and Benjen were both sent to the rooms that Lord Wyman had made up for them and so it was only herself, Ned and his father in the room.

"There are things that I need to discuss with the both of you, important things that can not leave this room. The first matter, I've already spoken to Brandon and Lady Catelyn about this, is that I will be leaving the North for a short time to head south." Ned suddenly sat straight up in the bed and stared up at his father with wide eyes and an open mouth as he tried to speak, only half form words and chocked of air coming out.

"I will not hear any arguments on this matter Ned, there is a reason that I did not tell your brother or your sister. This is important and I am going, there is nothing more that needs to be said." Ned looked like he was going to say something but instead he simply closed his eyes, let out a sigh and nodded his head. Elia reached out and stroked his back.

"Where are you going?" Ned asked, his voice did not hide his disapproval of the idea but he did not question it.

"I can't say."

"You don't trust us?"

"I do trust you, it is other people that I don't trust. There can be no word slipping out about where I am going, as far as the rest of the realm is concerned I am still in the North, not completely recovered from my little incident. When you return to Winterfell you will say that I suffered another attack and it has left me much weaker, I can not stand nor even try to get out of the bed." Lord Rickard said, each word seemed to be filled with hidden commands.

"When shall you be leaving Goodfather?" Elia asked.

"As soon as possible, I will be staying in White Harbour for a time but as soon as possible I shall be riding for Moat Cailin. I shall return as soon as possible, now there is another thing that I must discuss and it is a delicate matter and I would not bring it up if I did not think that it was not important." Lord Rickard let out a sigh and folded his hands together, the sight sent a chill up Elia's sign as she imagined this is how the Lord of Winterfell would look as he was about to take the head off of a criminal. "Lord Wyman told me that you asked Ser Jaime to accompany you in the birthing room?"

Elia got the sense that her head being taken off would have hurt far less than this, Ned suddenly pulled away from her and he looked at her like...like she was a stranger. She didn't think anything had hurt her more in her entire life. Still, she had made her choice and she would not bow her head or shy away from it now. She locked eyes with Lord Rickard and spoke. "Yes, Lord Stark I did. May I ask why it matters?"

"Did you stop for a moment to consider how it might look? Ser Jaime escorts you all the way back to the North and then, when you are ready to bear my grandchildren. You ask him to attend to you when no man should ever have a place in a birthing room." The lord of Winterfell shook his head, his eyes were stormy. "Of course, I am assuming that they are my grandchildren. They do not look much like Starks to me."

Suddenly a fury that Elia did not know that she could possess filled her and if she could then she would have jumped out of her bed and would have thrown herself at the man, not to say that would have done much as Lord Rickard was one of the biggest man's she had ever seen in her entire life with only Gregor Clegane being larger than him.

And so, Elia simply settled for levelling a glare at him and tightening her grip around the white sheets of her bed, imagining that it was her goodfather's neck. "How dare you? How dare you?! You would dare insinuate that I and Ser Jaime? No, no we did not. I was pregnant before I even left the North, I only found out after we had reached the other side of the Neck! And I know of no Lannisters with grey eyes!"

"Very well, those maybe my grandchildren. In fact I know they are, I am merely speaking what I think many already believe. You were to wed Prince Rhaegar, you were put aside and married to my son. You ask my son to take you to King's Landing after a letter arrives from the capital, you go to the capital and meet Ser Jaime, Ser Jaime crowns you queen of love and beauty, the king, whose dearest friend was a Lannister, breaks apart your marriage and the Lannisters take you back to Casterly Rock where you spend months and months."

"When you finally do return to the North, it is will a full Lannister escort and with Ser Jaime accompanying you, and then you ask him to attend the birth of your children. Now, pretend this wasn't you. Pretend this was gossip you had heard about a noble lady. Without knowing anything else, what did the picture I just pant for you seem to suggest?" He asked and Elia hated to admit it but it did seem to look quiet bad.

"But there are different circumstances, the letter was from Oberyn and I didn't know that Ser Jaime would crown me Queen of Love and Beauty, I didn't!" Suddenly she felt tears burning her eyes and breathing suddenly seemed a great deal harder as she tried to stay calm, if she started crying then she might wake the children and she didn't want that. They needed their sleep.

"Father, please your upsetting her. There is no need for this, I know that Elia would not do it. And I knew those were my children the moment I looked at them." Ned's words and how strong and steady his voice was filled her warmth but somehow all that made her want to do at the moment was weep even more than she had done, a few tears spilled over the banks and rolled down her cheeks.

"And I know that they are my grandchildren, I am sorry Princess. I truly did not mean to upset you but you need to understand what you have done. It matters a great deal what people think is the truth. It is known that your mother and Joanna Lannister were friends of old and that a betrothal between you and ser Jaime when you were children was considered. It was only the death of the Lady Joanna and Lord Tywin's rejection that stopped such a thing from happening. You spent time with him, whose to say that you may not have developed feelings for him in that time? There will a thousand stories now."

Elia felt her chest heave and for a moment she thought that she was going to be sick but she managed to catch her breath before she wiped her tears away quickly. "I am very sorry that when it felt like I was being torn open as I brought my children into this world that I did not take a moment to think of the political consequences of needing a hand to hold."

"Again, I do not blame you Princess. All I am saying is that this has now caused us a problem. I will leave the both of you alone for now, Ned, there is another thing to discuss." And with that, Lord Rickard turned and left the room. Soon Ned and Elia were left alone and a heavy silence filled the room, all that could be heard was the soft breathing of the twins.

"Ned...I swear I didn't...I wouldn't...Before we arrived in the capital I hadn't spoken a word to Jaime Lannister since we we're children and I only asked that he came with me because he was one of two people at Casterly Rock who was kind to me and I knew Tywin Lannister would spare no expense to make sure his son was safe. Ned, I promise you." Suddenly it was all too much, her body heaved with every sob and she had to cover her mouth.

Soon two strong arms which she had loved more than anything came up to hold her and she felt a kiss being press to the crown on her head but that did not stop the sobbing, it simply kept coming.

Ned didn't let go of her.

End of Chapter Fourty-Two

* * *

 **And there is our newest chapter done and dusted, I am not unware of how Jaime staying with Elia would look but a story with little to no conflict would be boring and the conflict doesn't need to be between Elia/Ned/Jaime.**

 **Not to say there won't be a bit of conflict to relate to that.**

 **Now, speaking of that the next chapter will be from Jaime's perspective, the one after that will be from Rhaegar's and the one after that will be a new P.O.V. All I will say is that it is not Rickard and it's not a character that had a P.O.V in the books and I have not seen them have a lot of P. in fanfics.**

 **If you guess who it is, I will tell you in a private message.**

 **Welp, please review, follow and favourite.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	43. Chapter 43

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Three.

The rain was still pouring down, turning the dirt of the training ground of the New Castle into mud, Jaime hated it. He had heard that it snowed often in the North and he had been prepared for that but because White Harbour was near the sea it was warmer than it would be further inland, not warm it was still colder than Jaime had ever been in his entire life, but it was warm enough that any snow there might have been turned into freezing rain.

So Jaime was cold and wet and he wanted to stab someone with his sword, he wanted to get back on the ship that had brought him to this frozen land and sail back to Lannisport and the Rock as soon as possible. The Rock could be damp and cold but even in Winter the sun would at least stay out for longer than half an hour.

He could tell that the knights who had accompanied him and Elia to the North were eager to get back to the Westerlands as well, many of them had already come down with colds and chills and shivered and shook in the night no matter how warm the barracks of the New Castle were. Jaime had been given his own chamber, which he had noticed was on the other side of the castle from where Elia's was, it was large enough and well furnished as to avoid any insult but even so being in it gave Jaime an ill feeling in his bowels.

He should not have attended Elia in the birthing room, it had been a mistake and he knew that it had been. It had been foolish, he could almost hear his lord father's voice in the back of his mind, telling him that Lannisters did not act like fools and none would make such a mistake before him, not only being in the birth chamber of a woman when there was nothing that he could do, it was a woman's trail to endure but being in the birthing chamber of a woman that was married to someone else.

And then he went and-

He was not going to finish that thought, he was not going too. It had been a mistake, he had never thought that he would be with a woman while she was birthing her children and it had filled him with many strange feelings that he had never felt before and when he looked into that face and seen the pure love that only a mother could have for her children...

He had been confused, that was all. He felt sorry for Elia Martell, he was partly the reason that she had been forced away from her husband and been forced to give birth among strangers. Off all the people in White Harbour, she knew him the best and she had asked him to not to leave, to stay with her. He was doing her a kindness and that was the end of it.

He hadn't even gone to see her since the birth, he had spent most of his time since then speaking with the knights he had brought with him and sparring with them when he wasn't talking to them and speaking to the captains of the ships who were also eager to return to the Westerlands, mainly from what he gathered to avoid his father's wrath.

Jaime was concerned about that, the deal Elia had made with Lord Tywin had been that as soon as she had been returned to the North, Jaime would be allowed to return. They weren't keeping him here, Lord Wyman and his cousin had made it quiet clear that he had both the leave to go and that none would try and stop them.

And yet, for some reason he found that he could not muster up the will to finally leave, he knew that he had too of course. He wasn't the sharpest mind when it came to the game that the high lords played but he knew that it would look bad if he was still sticking around, he knew that he should have left already but for some reason he couldn't find it in himself to go, thus he had made up the excuse that he would not leave until he saw that Elia was finally reunited with her husband as that was what they had set out to do.

He had tried to turn his thoughts on to Cersei, if anything could convince him to return to the Westerlands then it was the thought of his sweet sister but then he remembered that Cersei wasn't in the Westerlands, she was at Dragonstone with her sliver dragon prince and she was carrying his child.

The thought of that made him seethe, the thought of the dragon prince with his head buried in between Cersei's thighs, pumping away to fill her with his child, Cersei's belly growing with a child that should be his if there was any sort of justice in the world. But of course he knew that there wasn't any, Aerys wouldn't sit the throne or be able to do the things he did to his wife if there was.

And when his thoughts of Cersei didn't turn into what her dragon prince would be doing to her right now, they would turn to Elia. He would picture her standing in her chamber room with one of those two babes she had born for her lord husband, and gods he wanted to stab someone even more now, standing in front of the window as she feed him from her breasts, a gentle smile playing on her face.

Cersei was still the most beautiful woman that Jaime had ever known, she was the most beautiful woman in the world, he had always told her so and he had always meant it but he could not deny that Elia was beautiful as well and she was smart and surprising funny as well and when she was cross her brow would crease and when she was happy-

He was so utterly fucked.

He slumped down onto a bench and the rain was indifferent to his poor temper, continuing to hammer against his bent head, the moisture rolling down his neck and damping the inside of his doublet, he supposed that he should find some cover as his father would be even more worth with him if he ruined the fine garment, he had paid a tailor of Lannisport a hundred gold dragons for it.

Jaime heard the sound of footsteps approaching and he looked up to see someone that gave him a start, Eddard Stark. A dozen emotions struck him then, anger, fear and concern seemed to be chief among them. The anger he didn't understand, he had nothing to be angry about when it came to Ned Stark, the fear was strange as well because that was an emotion as strange as any could be to him and if Jaime was ever going to be afraid of anything then he doubted it would be the second son of a lord, whose blood was meant to be like ice water.

And the concern...Well, strange as it was, the concern was for Ned Stark himself, and for Elia. He imagined by now that word that he had stayed in her birthing chamber had reached the Quiet Wolf's ears and while he might have ice water for blood but what man wouldn't be angry about that? Jaime knew that he would be, he already was when he thought about Cersei baring children for Rhaegar, children that should be his if the gods had a lick of the kindness that they were meant to have.

He had to wonder how he had reacted once he had known, he didn't seem the sort of man that would even consider laying his hands on a woman but when a man was consumed by anger, anything could happen then. Men could also pretend that they were honourable and good and just and kind and behind closed doors could be the greatest monsters to ever soil the Seven Kingdoms.

A strange sort of determination took him then, if he found that Eddard Stark had harmed his wife then he was going to kill him. He was a knight, he was sworn to protect women and if Elia needed to be protected from her husband then so be it. It didn't matter that he was in the North, in a city controlled by Stark bannermen, he would kill him if he had laid a finger on her that he shouldn't have.

But why did he care so much? He cared because it was his duty, he was sworn to protect women and children and those who could not protect themselves. He swore a vow to protect them, that was why he cared and it was the only reason that he cared.

But Stark was apparently not as wild as his elder brother was meant to be, even here up in the North it was impossible to keep rumours about an heir who had seemed to make it his mission in life to bed every single fair faced woman that he meet, for the moment it was just rumors that no one was taking too seriously but the fact that talk like that was allowed to spread did not look good for Lord Rickard.

Still, according to the word around the city, he had still wound up married to Catelyn Tully. He was surprised that old Hoster Tully would have allowed his daughter to marry a man that had such rumours in the air around him but so long as their was no bastard, no stain on that precious Stark honour, then rumors could spread as they liked.

Jaime did have to wonder if there was another reason that Hoster Tully had allowed the match to go ahead, aside from the fact that marrying his eldest daughter to the heir of a great house was not only to be expected but would be a prized match, there were some rumours about the Lady Catelyn and some ward of Lord Tully that had been living at Riverrun since he was a boy, in fact some of the rumours said that ward has taken both of the Tully girls to bed.

Jaime personally didn't believe any of them, there were always rumours about highborn maids when there were men who weren't their brothers in their home and he had met both Catelyn and Lysa Tully when they and their father had come to Casterly Rock, he could still remember the steady stream of knights and bannermen of House Tully streaming through the Lion's Mouth, the golden light of the sun making their silver armour glow. The Tully girls both seemed like any other noble man's daughters, the elder one seemed to be fully aware of both her beauty and the prestige that came with being the eldest daughter, she didn't seem stupid enough to give her maidenhead to someone who it would not be advantageous to give it too.

The younger girl wasn't as beautiful as her elder sister but she was certainly not horrid to look upon, she had the same long red hair and bright blue eyes, but she was only pretty when compared next to her sister. She seemed more likely to give her maidenhead to someone who paid her petty complements he supposed but considering that his father was considering marrying him to either of those two girls, well, he wouldn't do that if he thought that those rumours were true.

Tywin Lannister would allow no stain on the Lannister family to show, as far as he was aware his father was still considering marrying him to Lysa Tully and Jaime cursed in his mind as he considered being married to her, she was pretty but she was also insipid and moony eyed, he wanted someone stronger than that. Someone who would be strong and speak her mind and give him council when he needed it and refused to just lay back do her duty and take the injustices heaped upon her.

Someone like Cersei. Someone like Elia.

He wasn't honestly starting to consider ripping his hair out if he didn't get these vile, treasonous thoughts out. He cared little and less for the Dornish princess, he swore it. He had done her a wrong and he had tried to make up for it and that was the end of it, he swore it so to all the gods, old and new and drowned and across the sea and in the sky, he swore it.

Ned Stark had seen him and didn't seem at all concerned that Jaime was at war with himself as he approached. Jaime let out a breath and placed a smirk on his face as he turned to look the second born son of Lord Rickard Stark with all the strength that he could muster. He was Ser Jaime Lannister, son of Lord Tywin Lannister, heir to the Rock and a knight of the realm. He wouldn't cringe from a wolf pup.

A lion didn't bow to a wolf.

"Lord Stark, it's been a long time." Jaime spoke with a calm ease that he didn't feel as the rain seemed to pound down heavier than it did a moment before, was that a rumble of thunder that he heard in the distance. "I hear that you're a father now, twin sons. I offer you my congratulations, a heir and a spare all from one pregnancy. You must be very proud."

Eddard Stark's face seemed almost like a statue for a moment, the rain rolling of his long face did not seem to bother him. He barely seemed to even notice it, after a while the stone cracked and his lips began to move. "Aye, both of the boys seem strong to me and my lady wife is already recovering. A blessed day indeed, it seems to me Ser Jaime that I owe you a debt. It was you who brought my wife back to me and in her hour of need you stayed in her birthing chamber to aid her through her pain, though I must confess though I know little of how southron boys are educated I did not think that midwifery was part of your education."

Jaime felt his first beginning to clench into a fist once again, if he wanted to banter with him then Jaime was more than willing to return the slaps. "Oh, it isn't. But your wife was all alone, I do not doubt that the Manderlys are a loyal house to house Stark nor would they would wish to harm your wife but she didn't know any of them, a woman's trial is a strange thing but having been one of few men to see it first hand I can attest to you it is just as terrifying as any battle that I have ever been in, if not more so. She knew me quiet well, she wanted a familiar face to offer her comfort, you were very far away and those babes were coming out."

Ah, there it was. The younger Stark was calm and cold unless his anger was raised and the man wasn't a complete idiot, though Jaime wasn't exactly one for being subtle. The words he was not saying would have driven even the calmest man into a rage, not a thing had occurred between him and Elia when she had been a guest of his family but Ned Stark didn't know that and he enjoyed the power that making him angry afforded him.

The man was shivering with rage although he was doing his best to hide it and Jaime would congratulate him on his composure, unless you were actually looking for signs that the man was angry then you wouldn't be able to truly tell, you could easily assume that the shivering was just do to the cold. The only other signs were the slight flaring of his nostrils and the way that the fingers of his left hand were slightly starting to curl into a first.

He won't congratulate him of course, it was truly strange how much he enjoyed making this one specific man angry. A tiny part of him, that he was truly trying his best to ignore, wondered if perhaps he made the man angry enough then he might just attack him. If he was attacked under the roof of another lord then Jaime would have every right to defend himself after all and he was wearing his sword belt.

An angry man was a careless man, if Eddard Stark charged at him like angry men were as like to do then it would be all too easy for him to free his blade and bury it in to Stark's guts. The thought pleased him a little but then he thought of Elia, left alone with her husband dead and two children and it was her who had insisted that he come with her to the North, how would it look to Ned Stark's family if the man that had been in the birthing room with Elia also wound up killing her husband.

At best she would wind up losing her head for it, at worst she would lose her head but she would be tortured first. Quiet apart from Elia he doubted that he or the men that came with him would be able to leave the North alive and knowing his father he would not take his death well and soon enough fields of crimson would sprout in the Westerlands and soon after, Lannister armies would be marching on the North as the great fleet of Lannisport sailed to burn White Harbour to ashes.

It suddenly occurred to Jaime that he was making a habit of nearly starting wars, he did really have to stop doing that.

He crossed his arms and leaned black against the cold stone wall, trying his best to take on a gentler tone. He was not the best when it came to apologising, nor could he actually say the words as that would entail admitting that he was at fault and had been trying to insult him and he could not do that. "In truth, to give due credit it was not me that brought Princess Elia here. She was able to do that all by herself."

A frown appeared on the North man's face but the anger had faded, replaced with a healthy dose of confusion. Who it was more healthy for Jaime could not rightly say. "What do you mean, speak the truth Lannister. This not court or the South, we have no place for double talk her."

Jaime could now safely say he was certain that Elia did not desire so fiercely to return to her husband for his conversational skills, but Jaime decided to indulge the man and cut straight to the point. "I was with my father, my brother, my uncles and my aunt in my father's solar and we were discussing a family matter. Suddenly, she stormed in with the maid my father gave her trailing behind her, past the guards and practically ordered my father to arrange a boat for her to carry her back to the North."

"Of course, as my Father himself pointed out to her, he had no reason to do such a thing and if my father had sent her home to you then all that would happen is that it would draw the King's wrath down on to the Westerlands and if it came to war and we would lose then we were all as like to die. But then, your wife outfoxed the proud lion. If he did not place her on a boat, she would throw herself from her chamber window into the Sunset Sea."

A chocked gasp escaped from Ned and for the first time since Jaime had seen him the mask finally shattered and for the first time Jaime felt a stab of pity for him, the man had clearly not been expecting to hear that and looked a cross between terrified, angry and devastated that his wife had been considering such a drastic action. He swallowed roughly around a knot that had formed in his throat and spoke, his voice raspy. "Go on."

Jaime obliged. "She was smart, she knew that no matter how hard my Father might try he wouldn't be able to keep news of her death from escaping Casterly Rock, not for long. And when it got out her brothers would raise their banners, your father would raise his, your foster brother and foster father would raise their banners for you, she seemed to have forgotten that your brother was going to marry the daughter to the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands so that would bring their banners as well. But, the king would raise his banners as well against him as it was his decree that Elia and I were to be married."

"Have you ever meet Mace Tyrell? I have, he's a grasping man. He would love any chance to unseat my father and get closer to the king, have my sister thrown aside and have any daughter of his, should have one from flopping on top of his poor wife, become queen instead. So, he would raise his banners for the King as well. Every single kingdom united against the Westerlands, my Father can't fight that and win."

"So that was the choice your wife presented to my father, send her back North or face total and certain annihilation." Jaime took in a deep breath, the air might be cold but it was fresher than most. "A remarkable woman, your wife. It reminded me of something that my sister might have done, she's very good at getting what she wants. For as long as I can remember she's wanted to be a queen, and now she's well on her way to becoming one."

"True enough. I...I thank you for telling me this, I do not think that Elia would." The grim man bit his lip and seemed to be mulling over whether or not to ask him a question, after a moment he found his courage. "It is safe to say that he agreed to this, why would he send you of all people to come with him?"

"He didn't, your wife asked me to see her safely back. Before you start to frown again, she only asked me to come with her because she knew that my father would never risk anything happening to me. If I was with her than he would try no tricks nor would she come to any danger as my father would allow no danger to come to me." It was less out of any love his father might bare him and more for how valuable he was, he might have another son in Tyrion but his father hated him and he wanted his line to continue to hold the Rock.

A weight seemed to be lifted from the other man then, as if Jaime's words had completely disproved the idea that his wife might hold any affection for him, which was fair enough as Jaime knew that she did not as he bore no affection for her. At the very least, not of that sort. "At any rate, I think I shall speak to the ship's captain tonight and make preparations to make the voyage back to the Westerlands tomorrow, my father will be getting worried and we don't want a war. I wonder is I might ask you a favour, beforehand?"

"If it is within my power to grant, ask."

"I wonder if I might say goodbye to Princess Elia? It seems unfair to leave without saying goodbye after the journey it took us to get here, I would need you to show me the way of course as I can not remember where her chamber is." Jaime thought for a moment that he had asked too much as the stone mask came back up for a moment but soon after Elia's husband nodded and turned towards the keep.

It didn't take them long to get inside, walking through the corridors. He was certain that plenty of maids saw them and that soon there would be plenty of gossip, there always was and he was sure the fact that he had been in Elia's birthing chambers had birthed a thousand stories of it's own. There were too many stories about them, he was sure of that.

He should have said no to Cersei when she asked him to kill Elia, he hadn't planned on doing it but he should have convinced her to leave it and because he hadn't and he wanted her to be happy, more than anything in this world, everything had gotten confused.

They arrived in front of the chamber door and with a look Ned Stark ordered him to wait outside as he stepped into the chamber, Jaime tried his best to ignore his desire to press his ear to the door and try to hear what was being said inside of the room. After a few moments the door opened and Ned invited him to step inside the room, he couldn't help but let out a tiny hiss of breath at what he saw.

Elia...well, she looked terrible. There wasn't any other way of putting it, her curly hair laid limp around her face and she was much paler than she had been. She was sitting up in bed but she needed a mountain of pillows at her back to keep her sitting up as she could not do so herself, heavy bags were under her eyes and though she did smile when she saw Jaime it was not strong. "Hello Jaime, thank you for coming to see me."

"I will give you two a moment to speak." Ned said though he did not seem happy to be leaving the two of them alone, he turned and walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Once he had left Jaime stepped forward and stopped at the foot of the bed.

"Are you alright?"

Elia smiled at his question and laughed but her laughter soon turned into a raspy coughing fit that lasted too long for Jaime's taste but as soon as he was about to turn and run from the room to let Eddard in and go to find a maester the coughing stopped and Elia took in some heavy breaths. "I am quiet alright, please forgive me for that Ser Jaime. I am afraid that this bout of illness has taken me unawares, I am always ill but sometimes the severity differs. I was fine yesterday and yet today, I do not think I have the strength to climb out of this bed if my life depended on it."

"I'm sorry." Jaime apologised and he meant, he didn't think he would be able to cope with not even having the strength to get out of bed. He hated being stuck anywhere and when he had been a boy and had ever been struck down with a fever it had been a trial for the maester and the servants to keep him in bed so that he could recover properly.

"Are you somehow the cause of it? I do not think that you can be. You have nothing to be sorry for Ser Jaime, I promise you that if you did have something to be forgiven for then I would let you know, believe me I would." Elia said with a giggle and Jaime found that the noise made him smile, he did not try to fight it or to hide it. "I am used to this, tomorrow I shall be right as rain."

Jaime doubted somehow that would be the case, while she might be better than she was today he somehow doubted that you could recover completely from looking as though you were in the middle of the Stranger's embrace in the course of a day. He didn't say that of course. "I am glad to hear it, where are th-where are your children?"

He hadn't noticed until just now but there were no signs of any cribs and Elia had a sad smile on her face as she spoke. "When I started to feel unwell I asked that they be moved to the nursery, I won't be able to look after them when I am in this sort of condition and I do not want my coughing to wake them up. I do wonder though, will one of them be like me, will both of them? We take so much from our mothers and our fathers, hair and eyes and skin, whose to say we don't take illness too."

Tears began to flow down her cheeks and a tiny sob that made Jaime feel like a knife had been shoved into his heart escaped Elia's throat. "If that happened, if I did that to them...gods, I don't think I would be able to forgive myself. I don't think that I could." The tears didn't stop, they kept rolling down her brown cheeks and louder sobs began to escape.

The door opened and Ned Stark stood in the doorway, a hateful glare aimed at Jaime as he pushed past him and sat down on the edge of the bed and gently pulled Elia into his arms, rubbing her back and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "It's alright my love, I'm here. I am here with you and I will never leave you again. Never, I swear that to you." He turned his gaze to Jaime and the glare was back in full force. "I think that you need to go."

Jaime nodded and half stumbled, half ran out of the chamber and began to run through the corridors. He made up his mind, he was going to go to the docks and speak to the captain right now, he wanted to be on his way home tonight.

He wanted to be as far away from this damn city, this damn country, as possible.

End of Chapter Forty-Three.

* * *

 **Welp, another chapter down and wow this was an emotional one, I don't think that Jaime is an okay place emotionally and as I think most of us that have read his chapters know, he can be pretty stubborn when it comes to denying things. I also don't think that we are going to be seeing Jaime for awhile, at least not as a POV character.**

 **I think this chapter will take me over two hundred thousand words and as always I would just like to thank everyone who has followed, reviewed and favourited. Your words of praise and your words of constructive criticism, in equal measure, mean so very much to me and I hope there will be much more to come.**

 **The next chapter will be Rhaegar POV and he is always so fun to write, not a favourite character but a favourite mindset. If that makes sense.**

 **As always, follow, favourite and review if you enjoyed and I will see you next time.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	44. Chapter 44

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Four.

The Red Keep loomed over King's Landing from atop Aegon's High Hill, a bloated red spider with seven legs. The sight of it rising in the horizon had filled with Rhaegar with a cold dread that had settled heavily in his gut. He had not wanted to come back here, not until the time was right and he would see his father being escorted off in chains to some dismal little Septry, the one on the Quiet Isle was the most well known to the nobility of Westeros, it was not a fit place for a king but it would keep him out of harm's way.

Actually, now he thought of it the most well known septry would be the one in Oldtown but placing his father in Oldtown, near that many people of influence did not seem to be the wisest course of action to him. The wisest course would simply be to take his father's head off but he couldn't see himself being able to do that, he had no delusions about what his father was. He was not going to simply wake up one day and find that all his father's wits had returned to him in the night.

And yet the memory of the man his father had been made him still his hand, it made him hesitate. He had loved him once, he had loved him more than he had ever done his mother in fact. After he had reached a certain age he had to leave the nursery and though he had still spent most of his time with his nose buried in a book, to the point that it had been something of a joke to say that his mother must have swallowed books and a candle when she had been carrying him so that he could read even when he was in her, he had to spend more and more time with his father.

At first it hadn't been much of anything, when the throne room was empty his father would carry him and set him on his knee as he sat on the throne and told him stories of all the kings who sat on the throne before him and that one day he would sit it as well. He remembered being terrified of the throne, it was so large and he used to have terrible dreams that it would come to life and swallow him whole, the blades jutting out of it had always looked like teeth.

His father had also taken him riding through the city and out in the kingswood and alongside the river, he remembered how much he had looked forward to those rides the most as he saw it as another opportunity to learn, he could learn the names of all the plants that he saw and each time he saw an animal that he hadn't seen before. Every morning he had begged his father to take him on one, he couldn't spar with the other boys so aside from reading they were the best parts of his day.

But back then his Father was not completely mad and he attended his small council meetings, Lord Tywin had still been the hand back then and the two of them had still been friends. They had both been capable of so much, his father had such ideas. He wanted to build a second Wall in the North and give the lands to the Starks, he wanted to make Dorne bloom into a giant garden by carrying water to it through a underground cannel.

Rhaegar had seen him make that promise to the Princess of Dorne himself, that had been the day that he had meet Elia. His father had always been fond of making grand proclamations and yet he had never followed through with any of them, in a way that was probably for the best as if his father had even attempted to do half of what he had promised to do then it would have cost the realm a great deal of gold and it wouldn't get done anyway.

His father had invited him to sit on the small council, so that he might knew what it was to rule someday. He had looked forward to those as well because he grown so interested in the ruling of the realm. Some of the bolder boys in the Red Keep still teased him for not having any interest in weapons but he didn't care about what any of them thought, he was the crown prince and it didn't matter what any of them thought and he was happy with the way he was, his life had been perfect.

And then he read that damned book, the prophecy that he held in it's books and everything change and he needed to become a warrior. Old Ser Willem Darry had always been kind and patient with him as he had not been used to a sword or a mace and a lance and Rhaegar was certain that the only reason he was as good as he was because of that old kind night who still served to this day as the Master of Arms for the Red Keep.

It would be good to see him again, it would be one of the few good things about coming back to the city. Seeing his mother and Viserys and Jon as well, he had missed all of them more than any words could say. He hoped that they were all still safe, he could not risk any contact with any of them less his father thought that he was plotting something with them, they wouldn't be safe.

They weren't safe now, his father could kill any of them at any moment for any reason and the court of King Aerys made it clear that they would do nothing to stand in his way, for fear of being the ones next to be burned for nothing. If they would do something for the High Septon of the Faith then he doubted they would do anything for his brother or for his mother or for Jon.

A part of him wondered if what had happened to his father had been his fault, at least in part. His father had begun to slip away from them soon after he had started to train, he had started to mutter under his breath and then he started to speak to people that weren't there. Then he began to grew jealous and paranoid of Lord Tywin, a way to gain the King's favour was to insult and to make mock of the Lord of House Lannister. As more and more time passed Lord Tywin grew tired of the insults and when his father had rejected his first attempt to have him wed to Cersei and had called him a servant that Lord Tywin resigned his handship.

A part of him had hoped that when his betrothal to Elia was called off and he was betrothed to Cersei instead that his father might have been coming back to himself and that he was trying to make amends for his previous actions. But no, his father had still seemed to be as mad as ever and he made no attempt to invite Lord Tywin to court to be granted a new position. His father was lost.

Duskendale had landed the heaviest blow on his father and made sure there was no hope of him ever being returned but he had been lost long before any of that mess had occurred.

A wave hit the ship and a small spray of water struck him in the face, he spluttered at the taste of salt on his tongue and brought up his to rub the water out of his eyes. It was for the best that had happened, he didn't want to think about this anymore. Once he got in the city and up to the keep he would have a great deal already to think on and to deal with.

And so Rhaegar turned and began to make his way back to his cabin where his wife would be waiting for him. as soon as he was below deck he was greeted by Ser Oswell Whent who greeted him with a solemn nod and followed him as he continued on to the cabin. Ser Harlan Grandison and Ser Lewyn Martell were both standing guard outside of the door. At the moment he stood in front of the door another wave hit the ship, not a strong one as they were too close to the dock but strong enough to shift the floor underneath them and that was all it took for Ser Harlan to lose his balance.

Rhaeger had to bite his lip to not let out a cry of pain when Ser Harlan's armoured shoulder bashed into his arm, said arm screamed in protest when it came up to stop the man from falling to the floor. Ser Lewyn had a look of concern and pity on his face when he looked at the knight and Ser Oswell was frowning heavily while the eldest knight blinked heavily down at the floor before he turned to look at Rhaegar.

"I...I am so sorry my prince, the wave caught me by surprise. I lost my balance." The words were slow and filled with confusion, as if Ser Harlan did not even understand what he was saying or why he was saying it. Rhaegar offered the man a gentle smiled despite the fact that pain his arm made him want to cry.

"It's alright Ser Harlan, nothing to be concerned about at all. Such things do happen on a ship after all. You seem tired, perhaps when we get back to the Red Keep you should go and lie down?" He suggested as gently as he could and for a moment Rhaegar thought he had said the wrong thing as the old knight's eyes seemed to grow wet but that only lasted for a moment as soon the haziness in them returned.

"That is very generous of you Prince Aerys but I am sure that your father will have a task for me." He spoke with a polite smile and for a moment Rhaegar thought that he was going to be sick. Ser Lewyn placed his hand on the older man's shoulder and tried gently to correct him but Ser Harlan looked at his sworn brother like he had never seen him before and ordered him to tell him why he was wearing a white cloak and where Ser Rickard was as they had been guarding the door of Queen Shaera's bedchamber.

Ser Oswell stepped forward and opened the door to the bedchamber and Rhaegar stepped inside as both white cloaks attempted to calm their brother, Rhaegar shut the door and leaned his entire weight against and rubbed at his face. This had been happening more and more as of late, the old man didn't know where he was half of the time and talked to people that were long since dead and most of the days at Dragonstone Rhaegar had made sure that he was left to sleep as long as he would and food was always brought to him, he only two kingsguards on Dragonestone in practice.

The man deserved better than this, he had been a part of the kingsguard serving at the end of his grandfather's reign and all of his father's reign up to now, he should have been released from his vows and allowed to return to Grandview in the Stormlands, he should be allowed to die surrounded by those who loved him and not be allowed to worry for anything.

But Kingsguards served for life and Ser Harlan would spend his last days in a cell like all the rest of them did, unless he happened to call his father by the wrong name and then his life might end by being burned alive instead, it had happened before and his father had taken no offense but as his madness grew so did his anger and his madness seemed to grow everyday so he could not say what would happen if the old knight did it again. The whole world seemed so very unfair in that moment but then he realised the foolishness of that thought, the world was always unfair.

He stepped over to the large bed that was set up in the cabin and he brought up his hand to pull the silk drapes that surrounded the bed apart and gazed down with a smile at his wife. Cersei Lannister was just as beautiful asleep as she was awake, in fact he found her to be almost more so as there was no trace of the anger or cruelty that he knew that his wife possessed present in her at the moment.

He knelt next to the bed and pressed a kiss to her forehead, rousing her from her sleep. She caught his lips and they kissed deeply before she pulled away and smiled up at him happily. "I used to have dreams about you kissing me you know? Every night when I was a silly girl whose father told her that she would be a queen one day, I would always wish the day away so that I could sleep and then I would dream of you."

"Did you indeed, well then tell me my sweet wife. He asked with a smirk of his own and he pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose before pecking her lips. "Now that you've been able to kiss the real thing, how do I measure up to the dream version of myself." He asked as his fingers came up to play with one of her loose golden curls.

Cersei giggled and cupped his chin. "Well, there are some instances where you will not be able to measure up of my dreams of you, I do not think that you can take me flying on a dragon after all. Nor do I think that we shall ever climb the wall and find an ice dragon but when it comes to the matter of kisses. You are vastly superior."

"An excellent answer." Rhaegar said with a smirk as he joined their lips together once again and this time shared a deep and passionate one that neither of them seemed willing to break. He reached down to cup her belly, there was not much to be felt as her pregnancy was not that advanced but he could feel a slight swelling there already and he couldn't help but feel a surge of pride, not only because he knew that the prophecy was already on the way to being complete but also because he knew it was him that had placed the seed there. Aegon reborn.

Sadly as he reached down he used the arm that Ser Garlan had fallen into and he let out a cry of pain and fell away from Cersei, he landed on his behind and held his arm close to his chest. He hoped that it wasn't broken, not just for his sake but for Ser Garlan's as well. Cersei sat up bed with her eyes wide as she stared down at him in alarm. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I am alright my love, I promise you." Rhaegar said with a smile despite the pain in his arm, he could move it well enough it simply hurt to do so. His wife did not look convinced to say the very least and Rhaegar let out a sigh. "A wave hit the ship a few moments ago, not a large one as we are coming into the dock, but it was enough for Ser Harlan to lose his balance and he sort of fell into my arm and he was wearing his armour so it hurt my but I swear to you that I am fine, I shall have the Grand Maester look at it once we arrive in the Red Keep."

His wife did not look please at his explantion and her lips had been pressed together into a thin line. "That old man? Why did your father chose to send him with us. from what I have seen I doubt that he would be much use if either of us were to actually be attacked by anyone. And now he is the cause of you being injured? He is useless and a danger to both of us."

Rhaegar could not stop the heavy frown from forming on his face at his wife's words, he would not deny that she had something of a point but she put it far more harshly than he ever would. "We are all going to grow old my love, it is not Ser Garlan's fault. He simply lost his balance and fell into me, you could just as easily blame the waves or the ship's captain or the armourer who forged his armour for hurting me."

His wife seemed to sense his displeasure at her words and she granted him an apologetic smile. "I am sorry my love, of course you are right. I am simply concerned for you and for Ser Garlan himself. What if he had fallen to the floor and broken a hip? Men his age do not tend to survive them. And what if it had been me, I am much softer than you and I might have lost the babe. Something has to be done."

She was making much more sense than he cared to admit but he knew that she was right, it would be for the best if there was a slot open in the kingsguard. Ser Harlan could spend his last days in peace and if there was a new knight in the Kingsguard than he might have a potential ally. Ser Harlan might not agree with what his father was doing but Rhaegar couldn't risk that he wouldn't let something slip.

For half a moment he wondered if that was why his father had sent the old knight with him as an unwitting spy, if he heard something that could incriminate him and with the mists of time clouding his mind let it slip then it would be the end of all Rhaegar had planned. "No, I imagine that you are right. He's an old man and dear to me but he is not fit for serving in the kingsguard any longer, I will speak to father about him."

He was not going to speak to his father about him, kingsguards were only meant to be released from their vows by death and knowing how far his father had fallen no doubt he would hasten his end. Something had to be done but he wasn't going to do anything that would lead the dear old man who Rhaegar had known his entire life to a painful end.

"We should start to get ready to disembark, I imagine we will dock any moment now." Rhaegar said as he stood up and used his uninjured arm to help Cersei stand up from the bed, he poked his head out of the door and asked Ser Oswell to go and find Cersei's maids and ladies, all of them were sharing a single cabin, and then and pulled his head back inside to wait for his wife to appear.

As soon as her ladies and maids arrived Rhaegar kissed Cersei and left the cabin to make his way back up to the deck. they were already in the harbour proper and each moment that passed the dock grew closer and closer and Rhaegar could see that there were several figures standing on the dock, waiting for them to arrive.

As the boat docked and Cersei and her ladies came up on the deck Rhaegar could see that the figures on the dock were his mother, his brother, his mother's ladies and a figure in the shining white armour of the Kingsguard, who it was he could not say as he was currently wearing his helm and was still far away. He took Cersei's hand and began to lead her slowly down the gangway and towards the party that stood to welcome them.

His mother was dressed in a gown of white and purple with a green sash around her waist and sleeves of pink Myrish lace and at the sight of him she smiled brightly, when he was a boy he had always thought that his mother's smile could outshine the sun and that she had been the Mother that all the septons and septas were always speaking off. He knew better now but that did not change the fact that mere sight of her and her smile caused him to smile himself.

His little brother was holding on to her hand and was rocking back and forth until he spotted Rhaegar and with a cry of joy broke free of their mother's hold ran toward him, throwing his arms around his legs. He looked down at Viserys and Rhaegar saw that his brother's violet eyes were overflowing with tears. "Never leave again!" His brother commanded with all the strength that a boy who had not yet seen his fifth name day could muster up.

Rhaegar knelt down to press a kiss on top of his brother's head and took hold of his shoulders to gently pull him away so he could look into his eyes. "I promise you, I won't leave again unless I have no other choice." He meant it, he wasn't going to leave either of them to suffer his father's mercies alone anymore but sadly he knew that time would come when he wouldn't have any other choice but to leave them, if he wanted to save them then he would have to leave them at some point.

Their mother approached them and gently took Viserys's hand to pull him away and then wrapped her arms around Rhaegar, she was putting pressure on to his injured arm but he found that at least for the moment he did not care about it, she had always hide her hurts from him to protect him and he could do the same for her, at least this once. "I've missed you Mother."

"And I you." His mother whimpered before she pulled back, a smile on her face even though her eyes were wet. "You've been gone far too long, though in some ways if might be for the better." With those words the Queen turned her attention to Cersei and she glanced down at her belly, unless you knew you would not be able to tell that she was carrying but Rhaegar had sent word ahead and his mother's smile grew wider as tears finally slipped from her eyes. "I am glad to see you my dear, might I?"

"Of course Goodmother, you do me an honour." His wife said with a smile of his own as she stood proudly next to him, dressed in black and red with a dragon and a lion stitched on to the shoulders of her dress. Rhaella stepped forward and placed her hand on the subtle swelling there and a pleased hum escaped her mouth as her smile grew ever wider and a light that Rhaegar had not seen in far too long was now burning behind her eyes.

"If you have any questions then you simply must not hesitate to ask me, pregnancy is a terrifying time for any woman and men are useless when it comes to this matter, even the wisest of them." She said with an amused chuckle and her words caused a smirk to appear on Cersei's face. "I hope that you will not mind but I've taken the liberty of assuming that I will be helping you when your time is near, I hope that you will allow me to do so as your mother is gone and Joanna was like a sister to me, it would mean a great deal to me if I could attend."

"Of course you simply must goodmother, I can think of no one I would rather have attending me as I bring this little prince or princess into the world." Cersei spoke gently as she brought down her hand to rub at her belly and Rhaella nodded, satisfied before she turned to face the kingsguard who had stood watching like a silent statue.

"Ser Barristan, we shall be returning to the Red Keep now." The armoured knight bent his head and his mother reached down to take Viserys's hand. "Princess Cersei, I would very much enjoy it if you and your ladies would come and take tea with me in the maidenvault. Rhaegar, I know that you've only just arrived but I am afraid that you must go and speak with your father, he made it clear to me that you were to attend him as soon as you arrived."

Rhaegar could not stop his frown from showing even if he wanted too, he wasn't surprised by any measure but he had been foolish enough to hope that perhaps his father had only called them back to the capital so he could have them both close when his first grandchild was born. "I will always serve at the pleasure of our king Mother, where he is may I ask? I half expected him to be waiting for us at the dock himself."

A shadow seemed to fall over the dock when he asked his question, his mother's ladies glanced among themselves, Viserys tightened his hold on their mother's hand while Ser Barristan in his armour tensed and a frown replaced the smile on his mother's face and the joy that had been in her eyes was replaced with something else. "His grace is sitting in judgement in the Throne Room. You need to speak with him and...watch your tongue my son, things have...happened, in your absence."

Rhaegar's frown deepened, a septon had once told him that the gods would send them signs of the future and he had always believed it as someone who knew the future must have written that prophecy in the book that he had read. What sort of sign was it that the day that he had arrived that his father had decided to burn someone. "I'm aware Mother. Trust me I know a great deal of what has already happened, I will go and speak with father as soon as we arrive at the Keep."

Rhaella nodded and turned to lead her ladies and her younger son to the royal wheelhouse his wife and her ladies followed after them and the dockworkers came forward to help the crew of the ship with bringing the cargo out. Rhaegar turned when he heard the sound of armoured feet approached and when he looked over his shoulder he saw Ser Lewyn, Ser Oswell and Ser Harlan approaching.

As soon as the wheelhouse began it's slow creaking journey through the streets of King's Landing a horse was brought over for Rhaeger which he quickly climbed on top off, despite the fact that his arm did not thank him for the hasty climb, and he began to ride after the wheelhouse, Ser Lewyn and Ser Oswell were riding abreast of him and Ser Barristan and Ser Harlan were riding behind them.

As they rode through the streets Rhaegar allowed himself to gaze at the people who came to watch the small royal party make their ascent, men wearing nothing but tatters and some wearing even less than that, woman who were holding their squalling babes close to their chests to try and give them some comfort for their fevers or their chills or their empty bellies.

He spied a little girl with red hair and a face stained with soot and dirt and other things that he did not want to dwell on, in her hands was clutched a pigeon and for half a moment he thought that maybe she was keeping it for a pet but when he looked closer he noticed that the bird was not moving and she was holding on to it so tightly for fear of someone taking it from her that it left no doubts in his mind for what purpose the girl was holding on to it for.

How was it that the capital of the Seven Kingdoms could not even keep it's own people feed? It did not seem possible in his mind as when he was a child he could not remember a time when he had ever gone to bed happy, he had always been spoiled for choice when it came to food with his lunches being more than what most would be able to afford in their entire lives.

He had promised himself that when he was king things would be better than they were now, he would put forth laws that would make sure that the lowerborn would get more food that they needed, he would ensure that the city was cleaned as many had mentioned how the smell of waste could be smelt miles and miles away from the walls themselves.

All he had to do was get his father out of the way first, care was needed more than anything else at the moment. Varys had proven himself to be just as competent a spymaster as his reputation had suggested and he was always willing to whisper into his king's ear. Rhaegar could only imagine that up to this point it had been sheer luck that the Spider had not since discovered that he had been plotting with Lord Tywin.

But he was not willing to push that luck, as much as he might wish too he had not yet made any attempt to reach out to the other High Lords of the realm, other than the letters that he given to Elia but he did not knew the fate of those, partly because he didn't think that the luck would be able to hold out if he reached out to more of them and partly because he couldn't be sure that they would actually rise for him.

The Starks and the Martells had little reason to love his father it was true and that was why he had risked writing those letters but they had just as little reason to love him, they might simply decide to sit it out. House Arryn would be a powerful ally but Jon Arryn had been the foster father of Ned Stark and no doubt he would hold little love for any of his father and the same could be said for Robert Baratheon who was the younger Stark son's foster brother.

House Tully had bound themselves to the Starks by wedding their eldest daughter to the heir to Winterfell so no doubt on this issue that would stand together so that only left the Reach and The Iron Islands, House Tyrell he was not sure of as Mace Tyrell was a man who wanted power but he wasn't as cruel as most of them were but he didn't have reason to think that Rhaegar would give him any for supporting him over his father and as for the Iron Islands...well, Rhaegar was certain that he would do better with no allies than he would with them being the only ones at his back.

He knew that The North, the Reach, The Riverlands and Dorne were forming an alliance, indeed for what purpose he could not say. When his agents had pointed out how odd it seemed that all the ruling houses of these kingdoms, not Dorne at the time as he was betrothed to Elia then, were making these connections and slowly but surely surrounding the capital, he had thought that they might be attempting to other throw his father but that did not seem likely as well his father had begun his slow descent into the embrace of madness he was nowhere near as bad back then as he was now.

Perhaps they simply wanted to form an alliance that could act as a way of checking the King's power, perhaps they wanted the Seven Kingdoms to become Seven Kingdoms in practice as well as in name. It had been steel and blood and dragon fire that Aegon and his sisters had used to forge the realms into one when they had landed.

But now the dragons were all dead and the power of House Targaryen had been diminishing since the Dance of the Dragons when Rhaenerya Targaryen and her brother, another Aegon, fought one another for the throne. Almost every dragon that his family had possessed had died during the dance and the few that survived did not live for long after and while there had been attempts to birth more all of them had ended in failure, and in death as well.

One of those attempts had happened the night that he was born, the tragedy at Summerhall when his great-grandfather, another Aegon, had invited almost all of what remained of House Targaryen to Summerhall, a castle on the Dornish Marches. At the end of his days his great-grandfather had become obsessed with the idea of bringing dragons back into the world, his mother had once told him that he would spend days and nights locked in his chambers reading books about Old Valyria and Dragon breeding, all in the hope of finding a way to bring the great beasts back into the world.

He had thought that he had found a way to do so. He had found the last dragon eggs that were still in the family's possession and brought them to Summerhall, the Red Keep's septon at the time had been there to bless the gods in the name of all seven gods and also who had been there but pryomancers who swore that their substance was what was needed to bring the dragons back to life.

Needless to say it didn't work, the only survivors of that day were his mother and his father, his grandfather had not been there, and an old archmaester whose name Rhaegar could not remember at the moment. To this day Summerhall stood as a blasted ruin and when the flames had consumed it and their entire family Rhaegar had been born into the world.

He had been born amidst the salt of their tears and the smoke of the flames, it had been the reason that he had been so sure that he was to be the prince that was promised. Of course he knew now that he was wrong but it had been something that he knew his grandfather had clung too in the end of his days, he could remember the old man always calling him his promised prince.

But they had both been wrong, Rhaegar was not to be the prince. He had no sisters, his mother had born one but she had died within a year and the prince would need his sisters at his side for the great battle beyond the wall. The dragon needed three heads otherwise all was lost and while Rhaegar might not be the prince he would be the one to bring them forth.

He still went to Summerhall sometimes, he only ever went alone without the protection of the Kingsguard and would spend nights looking through ruined roof to see the stars shinning down on him. He could swear that sometimes he could here the stars whispering down at him, telling that the tragedy was worth it as all that death had brought him into the world and through him the prince would come.

He had composed some of his best work in Summerhall, the sadness of the place and the sheer wanton cruelty of destiny had inspired him.

Rhaegar had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed that they had arrived in front of the Red Keep until he heard someone shouting for the drawbridge to be lowered. The great bridge was lowered and the portcullis beyond the bridge was raised, the royal party rode across the lowered bridge which took them into the courtyard that separated the various keeps inside of the walls.

As his wife and mother and brother stepped out of the wheelhouse and began to make their way over to Maegor's Holdfast, the drawbridge was drawn up and it took a few moments longer than it should have for it to be lowered for him. As Rhaegar was walking over the bridge he found himself glancing down at the moat and the iron spikes that had been jabbed into the ground, he couldn't help but wonder if in the days to come if those spikes would soon see their use, his father was growing worse and with each action that he took he seemed to dig his own grave even deeper.

And he was digging their graves as he was doing it as well.

Rhaegar walked steadily through that walls of the holdfast, Ser Lewyn following him as Ser Barristan still had to guard his mother and his brother and thus had followed them into the Maidenvault while Ser Harlan and Ser Oswell had both gone to the White Tower. Well, in truth Ser Oswell had gone to the White Tower and he had taken his sworn brother with him as it was clear that the older man needed to lay down.

If his father complained about their absence that Rhaegar would deal with it but he didn't want Ser Harlan to be in his presence, at least not for the moment. If he said the wrong thing then the knight would either wind up getting himself burned or he would wind up getting Rhaegar burned and he couldn't have that.

It didn't take them long before finally they arrived in front of the great doors that lead into the throne room, a knot formed in his throat and he tried his best not to swallow around it. He reached and took hold of one of the great metal rings of the door and he pulled them away in shock when he realised that the normally cold metal was hot, not enough to actually burn his skin but enough to give him a shook due to not having expected it.

He took hold of the ring once again and slowly began to pull the large and heavy door open but as soon as it was open even a crack he regretted it as a wave of blistering heat carrying the smell of burning flesh struck him in the face, causing his eyes to water, his stomach to turn and a small series of violent coughs to erupt from his mouth.

He thought that he heard someone else coughing as well but when his senses returned to him he realised that it wasn't coughing, someone was laughing. It took him a moment longer to realise it was his father, the mad giggle that sounded like a cross between a child who has just been told that they could have all the apple cakes that they wanted and a man who had just been told the funniest jest in all the world could not be mistaken.

Rhaegar took a moment to wipe the tears from his eyes so he could properly see what was happening, though he imagined that he might have been happier not knowing as the sight in front of him made him want to empty his stomach on to the floor and only some strange strength that he did not know the source of kept him on his feet.

His father was sitting on top of the throne, his body shaking with the endings of his mirth and his eyes were bright with joy and cruelty in equal measure as he stared down at what amused him so, Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Georld Hightower were both standing next to the throne, they were not wearing their helms but even so as they were dressed in their armour Rhaegar could not imagine how either of them could stand the heat, both men's eyes were blank of any emotion and it was clear to him that both men were looking without seeing.

It was the way that all men dealt with horror and crimes that they were powerless to prevent, to pretend that it simply was not happening right in front of them. How many times had the kingsguard stood in front of the door of his parents bedchamber and done nothing about it simply because they were sworn to protect the king and obey him in everything?

In that moment it was hard not to hate them, hate all of them.

Jon Connington was standing father away from the throne and while his mouth was set into a hard line in his eyes Rhaegar saw naught but horror and pain and the desire to do something but being able to do nothing. The look in his eyes lightened somewhat when he caught sight of Rhaegar but not all together by too much as the smell of flesh cooking still filled the air with it's smell.

The Spider stood watching silently, his face as a blank a mask as Rhaegar had ever seen but he had no sympathy for whatever horror the eunuch may or may not be feeling for how many of his whispers had lead men and women and children to the exact fate that Rhaegar was seeing happening right in front of him? The foul mockery of a man was just as responsible as his father was.

And in the centre of the throne room, surrounding a large wooden pyre where blackened bones were cruelly hanging from, three Pyromancers of the Alchemist Guild stood, trying to keep control of their green flames to make sure that it would not consumed all of the Red Keep. None of them seemed to notice or care about the burning remains and Rhaegar could see the light of the jade flames being reflected in their eyes.

The rest of the court was absent and Rhaegar did not know how to take that, it didn't matter if they were here or not as clearly their presence would be as much use to him as they were to the High Septon but he wouldn't deny that he would feel better if the noble lords and ladies were present, if nothing else so that there would be other witnesses to his father's madness.

Stepping forward and around the Pryomancers and the pyre in the middle of the room he approached the foot of the iron throne and quickly dropped into a kneel, ignoring the pain in his arm which burned with so sudden a movement. "Father, it is always good to see you again. I trust that you are well?" He spoke calmly, trying to ignore the cracking and the splintering sounds of the burning wood behind him.

"My son, it is good that you have returned to me. Your wife is carrying the future of our family line and in such troubled times such as these, where treason is openly and blatantly displayed for all in the realm to see and to be proud off. Well, in times like these our family must stick together." His father spoke well enough but Rhaegar could hear the hints of hysteria growing in his voice with each word that he spoke, all traces of his good mood, even if it had come at so steep a price, had now vanished.

"Treason? Father, I don't understand?"

"Varys. Explain to my son this outrage."

"Of course your grace." The Spider spoke in a tone of flattery as he stepped forward, as he got close Rhaegar could smell the scent of flowers which when mixed with the smell of flesh burning caused a sickly sweet smell that made him want to be sick. "My agents inside of the rock tell us that Lord Tywin Lannister has spat in the face of our king and his generosity, he has placed the Princess Elia on a ship and has sent her back North to be returned to her former husband."

In that moment Rhaegar was struck dumb and had no idea what to say, when his father had made that pronouncement he had honestly thought that he had taken all leave of any sort of reality and that the next day he would pronounce that he would wake the stone dragon on Dragonstone simply be tapping it's nose seven times, but while he had not said that it was clear that as for his pronouncement when it came to Elia and her husband he had been deadly serious.

He still remembered the sight of Elia breaking down and crying in the middle of the tent as her husband tried desperately to comfort her and her younger brother had shoot daggers at everyone he had looked at. Rhaegar had not forgiven his father for that action, though he supposed by this point that he should have just added it to the pile of things that he would never forgive his father for.

His father was waiting for an answer and so Rhaegar cleared his throat to speak. "Lord Tywin is bold and presumes far too much and has very little gratitude for all the many kindnesses and boons that you have presented him with, but perhaps we might see this as something of a blessing in disguise? Your decision was not well received by man and now that Princess Elia is returning to the North it might be that it will be forgotten."

He somehow doubted that, Elia had been with child and he doubted that she had followed his father's advice to cleanse it from her and he imagined by now that the babe would soon be ready to be born and while he had never know Elia to hold on to any grudges he had known her brother to do such a thing, the man was hot blooded and was likely to slip into the Red Keep and slit all their throats while they slept.

Prince Doran was a calmer man and was the more reasonable of the Martell brothers but he doubted that he would stand for the insult of what had happened to his sister but surprisingly enough all that had come from Dorne had been silence and no news had reached his ears that seemed to suggest the eldest viper was planning anything, but that did not mean anything at all.

The Starks were the wild factor in all of this, The North had always been cut off from the rest of the realm and thus little was known about the politics of that part of the realm. Clearly Lord Rickard had been trying to change that by sending one of his son's past the Neck to foster and betrothing his only daughter to a southron lord, Eddard Stark would clearly want his wife back and would no doubt be pushing his father to go to was but for all Rhaegar knew she was more then likely already back in the North and the Starks were manning Moat Calin to defend the causeway from any attacks from the south.

Sadly his words did not seem to calm his father, if anything they had only made him more worth and suddenly the heat from the still burning pyre felt all that more close to him as his father leaned forward. "A blessing in disguise? Is that how my son, the crown prince of the realm, the future king, thinks that treason should be answered? I fear for the realm if that is indeed the case you foolish boy."

"All around me are enemies, enemies who feel bold enough to shout their treason from one corner of the realm to the other. Enemies who don't bother with sharpening their blades in the dead of night, they are far too wiling to show all the blade that they have in the break of daylight. The wolves of the north and the snakes of the south have joined with one another, the Falcon circles overhead and the Stag waits for his moment to take my throne from me, I can feel it."

He gestured with his hand towards the pyre, though his long curled nails made it look like he was almost gesturing the still burning ruin to come forward. "This is the price of treason my son, a knight in service to my household. A blade in my own home, one that could stab me in the back as I sat in judgement of other traitors, a blade that could slit the throat of my own wife, a blade that could steal away our son in the night."

"When I had him brought before me to answer for his crimes, of course he demanded a trial by combat, I told him that was his right of course. He had sword on his belt already so I saw no reason to provide him with arms and armour. Of course, he was not so confident when I informed him that that champion of House Targaryen was wildfire. He died with little dignity, it pains me to say."

"And what was it this man in service to our family did that made you so certain that he was a traitor, Father?" Rhaegar said as a sudden anger filled him, strength coming with it. He stood even though once again his arm burned in protest at the movement. His father's eyes were suddenly filled with fear and out of the corner of his eye Rhaegar saw that Jon was inching towards him, perhaps to pull him away before he said something that he would regret.

"Did you even know him name father, can you remember it?"

"His name does not matter, the names of traitors are better left forgotten." His father spoke through he did not seem as strong as he done simply a few moments ago. "And as for his deeds that earned him this fate? He spoke against his king, he said that I was a mad man and a fool to deny the will of the gods. Should I allow such words to stand in my own home?"

"Is that the same crime for which you burned the High Septon for as well?" The words escaped his lips before he could stop them from leaving and suddenly the entire throne room seemed to turn cold and the now smouldering pyre broke apart and fell to the floor with a heavy crash. His father started at him with his eyes blown wide and his pupils reduced to nothing more then pinpricks in oceans of indigo, his body was shaking with a barely suppressed rage.

"I...I sent no word of my execution of the foolish old man to Dragonstone! How are you aware of it!" He shirked, banging his hand on one of the armrests of the throne, the blades there cutting deep into his hand, cutting the sleeve of his robe and drawing blood from his arm but his father didn't seem to notice. "Are you spying on me you wretched, traitorous little bastard! How dare you!?"

A cold knot of fear formed in his gut and behind him he could hear one of the pyromancers muttering that they might have to get more of the substance soon then they had expected. He wasn't going to show any fear, he would not. "You killed the gods representative on this world Father, such a thing can not be kept hidden. News reached Dragonstone within half a day and by now the entire realm must already know. Many powerful lords love the gods Father, many of them came to air their grievances to me on Dragonstone. You've made even more enemies for yourself with this action father."

"And now my son hosts lord who think treasonous thought and harbour hate for their king in their heart? Was I not kind enough to you, did I not love you? Did I not give you all that your heart asked for?" He extended his maimed hand from which tiny rubies dropped and fell to the floor below, a long pale finger was extended towards him as the hand itself shook. "I should...I should have you." A harsh cough began to rack his father as his eyes began to droop. "I should..."

"Father. I think that you should go and see the Grand Maester, you've hurt yourself and are loosing quiet a bit of blood. Go and have your wounds tended and then I shall take whatever punishment that you deem appropriate." He spoke gently and assumed the tone of a son who truly regretting all that he had done that had lead him to this point, it wasn't all that hard to pretend considering that it was near enough to the truth just for different reasons.

His father nodded his head heavily as his eyes gently began to shut as Ser Gerold climbed the steps of the throne and half carried his father down to the floor and lead him out of the room by the small side door that only the king may use. Arthur followed after them but he stopped to shot a glance at Rhaegar and as he left Rhaegar knew that they would be having a conversation about this later. The Spider slipped out as well, tutting as he went.

The Pyromancers scurried out of the throne room, leaving only blackened cinders and ashes as any evidence to the crime that had happened here. It wasn't much and it wasn't enough but he would find out the man's name and if he had any family in the city then Rhaegar would do all that he could to make sure that they were taken care off.

The sound of Jon's heavy footfalls drew Rhaegar's attention away from the remains, his friend was frowning deeply as he stared at the ashes for a moment before he turned his attention on to Rhaegar. "That could have gone much better, still, with any luck that hand of his might become corrupted and we won't have to worry about him for much longer."

"You shouldn't say such things, not about him. He made you his hand and the agents of the Spider pride themselves on being unnoticed, I know not how he can know half the things he does at times. I would almost say sorcery, I know that magic was once a mighty force in the world and perhaps it is becoming so again but at any rate I know no man who could muster such a force. Regardless, you must be careful. If he will burn High Septon then I do not think that you being my hand will do much to protect you."

"Well I don't want to be his hand, you fool. I want to be your hand, you made me agree to this." Rhaegar had indeed been the one to suggest to both his father and to Jon that he would be perfect for the empty role as Hand, Rhaegar knew that he could trust Jon without a shadow of a doubt, Jon loved him greatly and he would serve him well as a Hand and would never do anything to harm him. "So if I am in danger, my silver prince, I am afraid that it is rather your fault."

"You are not wrong my friend, you are not wrong at all. But for me, who needs you more than any other. Please, be safe and guard your tongue." The thoughts that had been plaguing him for months returned to him at the moment and he averted his gaze to look upon the Iron Throne, his duty and his destiny must always come first. Always.

"I promise to be careful if you take my advice right now." Rhaegar turned back to face Jon and found himself staring into blue eyes that were as bright as the sky. "Go back to Dragonestone and go now, take your wife and your mother and your brother and...and me and those who are loyal to you while your father can do nothing to stop you. Prepare yourself for a long siege and then send messages to every single corner of the realm, denounce your father and reveal all that you know him to be and put yourself forward as king."

"Lord Tywin is already an ally and it was your father and not you who split the Dornish woman apart from her savage husband, Dorne and The North have no reason to hate you and every reason to hate him. They might not rise for you at first but if the Riverlands or the Stormlands do then they will follow right behind them, no man with sense will stand behind a mad king."

"Some value loyalty more than they do sense, my father is the king and they are sworn to serve him. For some those vows matter a great deal and yet more will love the reward that will come for being loyal. If I do as you say and take all that is dear to me and flee with them and I die in rebellion then what will happen, Viserys will become heir and in time will be wed to the most powerful of his supporter's daughters? I can not risk it Jon, I can not."

Jon frowned heavily and shook his head before he began to stalk away from the iron throne and walked over to the doors of the throne room, stopping for a moment to look back at him. "And when will you risk Rhaegar? When? When dozens of more people have been burned until there is nothing left of them but ashes and cinders? Will you act when your father doesn't stop and he beats your mother to death or will you act when he takes your wife and burns her to death in act of vengeance against her father."

"The time to act is soon coming my friend, I pray to all the gods that you do not miss it." And with that Jon was gone, the doors to the throne room swinging for a moment but Ser Lewyn poked his head in and if Rhaegar was ready to leave but Rhaegar waved him off and told him that he was not ready to leave yet. The knight nodded dutifully and shut the door.

Rhaegar sat down in front of the steps of the iron throne and let the shadow of the great hulk consume him.

End of Chapter Forty-Four.

* * *

 **And there we go another chapter out of the way and I've said it before and I will say it again, I really like writing for Rhaegar as while I don't approve of any of his actions I find him to be such an interesting character to write. The same can be said with Cersei who is most of the time a terrible person but is such an interesting character to get inside off.**

 **A quick thing, I know that Tywin did not renounce his handship at the tourney at Lannisport, in cannon he did it when Aerys named Jaime to the kingsguard but for the story's sake, like with Jon being the hand at the point, that's when Tywin resigned.**

 **Our next chapter will be our brand new P.O.V character and I hope that someone will be able to guess it, my only clues are Rickard will appear in the chapter, they are a character we've seen before, I don't think that this character has ever truly had a P.O.V in fanfiction but correct me if I'm wrong after you read it and they are not a P.O.V. in the books.**

 **Please review, favourite and follow if you enjoyed,**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	45. Chapter 45

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Five.

Lysa Tully sighed as she watched the Red Fork river gently flow buy, the sun seemed bright in the afternoon as it had been raining heavily all morning and now the air seemed a great deal fresher than it had before. She loved days like this when she had been a little girl and she still loved them now.

She and Catelyn would spend hours and hours sitting outside, talking to one another in the secret language that they had created for one another and twisting flowers into the crowns which they placed on one another's brows, naming themselves queens of love and beauty. Then Edmure was born and they would involve him in the games as best as they could with a tiny baby, more often than not he would simply be a dragon or a monster that would hold one of them hostage and the other, usually Cat as she was always the bolder of the two, would have to rescue them.

It was normally quiet easy to do as baby Edmure would often just blink up at them and coo or fall on to his back in the grass and try and put bugs into his mouth so all they had to do was walk around him and place their hand on the other's shoulders and just like that they would be saved and they would go on to play a different sort of game.

It seemed so long ago now that the thought of those days brought tears to her eyes, Mother was still alive then and to her father smiles came more easily and his anger was hardly ever seen. Lady Minisa Whent had died trying to give birth to a second son and that had killed her in the end, the baby had died that same night and Lysa saw that as being for the best for no matter how wrong it might be she did not think she would be able to forgive the baby if it had survived and their mother had not.

If mother was still here then perhaps Father would not be so unkind, so cruel to her sweet Petyr. He loved Cat so much and yet her father had not even considered wedding Cat to him, it wasn't that she wanted too see the love of her life wed to someone else as that sight would like a dagger in her heart and surely claws rending her flesh and nails being driven through her eyes would be more bearable than the sight of Cat being the one to stand at Petyr's side but more than anything she wanted Petyr to be happy.

Even if Petyr being happy meant that she would be miserable, you were suppose to put the people you loved ahead of you all the time. That was what a true lady always did, at least according to her old septa. Lysa had hated the old woman for as long as she had been forced to suffer her, she had long bony fingers like a skeleton and was always eager to take a switch to their arms if they happened to drop a stich or missed a note when playing on the high harp.

The memory of the old witch and Petyr mooning over Cat soured her mood and right now there was nothing that Lysa wanted more than to get out of this room, she stood up and began to strode over to the door that lead out into the corridors of Riverrun, before she could even reach the door to open it however it opened on it's own and her uncle stepped in.

Lysa had always loved Uncle Brynden for as long as she could remember, he had been able to spend a great deal of time with them when they were younger, far more than father ever had and even Mother in some respects. Lysa had also always found it easier to speak to her uncle than she ever had her father, to her Hoster Tully had always just been the Lord of Riverrun, her uncle had always just been her uncle though she knew that he preferred Cat and Edmure to her.

It wasn't something that she was not used too, everyone she had ever known had preferred her siblings to her. Even the old septa had been more reluctant to take the switch to Cat's hands.

"Hello Uncle." She greeted politely with a warm smile and her uncle returned it as she sat down on the end of her bed, her uncle sat down next to her when Lysa gestured to him that he could. "Is something wrong?" She couldn't think of another reason why her uncle would choose to come and speak to her without announcing himself first.

"No my love, there isn't anything that you need to worry about." Brynden said in the soothing tone that Lysa had known since she was a child. The one that told her that there was nothing that she had to be worried about and that more than anything else that he would listen to her and he would understand, the voice that would make her tell everything.

"No, your father just asked me to come and tell you that if you were coming to speak to him about anything or if there was anything that you needed to tell him, come and tell me instead. So, he came and told me to tell you something that you would more than likely do anyway." His words brought a laugh bubbling out of Lysa's throat and once she regained control of herself she noticed a proud smile on her uncle's face and bringing the laughter on.

"But to be honest, Lysa. Do not bother your father today, he is going to be extremely busy. Several smallfolk are coming before him today to present grivances and receive justice. Don't interfere, do you understand?" Lysa frowned heavily, she didn't understand why her uncle had come with this message, she had never been one to pay much attention when her father had made rulings, Cat had always had interest in it and Edmure had to pay attention but when Lysa had been forced to sit in a corner and watch she always tried to imagine that she was somewhere else, most often somewhere else with Petyr.

Still, she could only imagine that the only reason that her father would send such a message was if he absolutely did not want to be disturbed and so with a nod she accepted this command. Her uncle leaned in and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, called her a good girl and then left her to her thoughts.

After a while she realised she had nothing to do, watching the river run past had lost it's appeal, she did not relish the idea of starting another piece of needlework and none her books held any appeal to her. Her uncle and her father had not confined her to her room and thus she decided that the best thing to do was simply to wondered around the castle until it was time for dinner.

She passed several servants, all greeted her politely and she would say a word or two in response but not enough to make anyone think that she wanted to stop and have a conversation with any of them. She soon found herself outside in the courtyard of Riverrun and the noise the blacksmith hammering on some steel and the daily conversation filled her ears as the smell of horse droppings and freshly baked bread hit her nostrils.

She decided then to head towards her mother's garden, the smells of a dozen different flowers always made her happy and at the moment Lysa felt that she could certainly do with a bit of cheering up. She picked up her skirts and began to walk through the courtyard to the stone archway which lead into the gardens, as soon as she stepped through the archway the smell of lilacs rid the unpleasant smell from her.

Lysa's mother had tended to these gardens by herself since shortly after she had married Lord Hoster, she always had people to help her to do some of the harder tasks such as moving the heavy objects and laying down the manure as it would do no good to say that the wife of the Lord of Riverrun had her arms buried elbow deep in pig shit but aside from that it was her mother who tended to all the flowers, who clipped their thorns when they grew too large.

The castle step was nuzzled in here somewhere but Lysa didn't spend much time in there, she remember many days when she was younger kneeling in front of the statue of the maiden, praying to be more beautiful. She prayed that when she was older she would be so beautiful that no one would ever even look at Cat, they would be too busy looking at her.

She prayed for her turn and it never came.

The thought hit her hard and she soon found herself sitting down on the ground, she could practically hear her septa shrieking at her to stand up to stop from running her dress. But the old septa wasn't here and had been dead for years and Lysa had plenty of dresses, she could manage with one being ruined and if she wanted to sit in the dirt she could sit in the dirt for as long as she liked.

She wasn't sure for how long she had sat there but the sun was beating down on her, they were still in Winter but in the Riverlands in the afternoon you would not be able to tell. She was about to stand up and walk back inside or maybe she would go down to the Water gate and dip her feet in the river. Just as Lysa stood up however she heard a noise coming from above her, she paused and listen again because she thought that it was possible that she had just been hearing things, it wouldn't be the first time.

She had once been certain that she had heard singing coming from the dungeons but her father had assured her that there was no one being held down there, it didn't stop her from hearing the voice singing over and over for days until it finally stopped. She didn't like to think about it, even after it stopped she had nightmares for days and days afterwards.

The noise repeated and Lysa was certain that this time she heard it, it was a noise that knew well. The sound a mix between a swallow and a gulp, unmistakably the sound of someone throwing stones into the Red Fork. She glanced up at the battlements but she found that she could not see anyone up there, whoever it was they had to be crouched or looking over the side of the battlements facing the river.

Curiosity overtook her and she found herself pushing through the bushes and the brambles, ever since her mother had died her father had ordered that no one was to touch a single plant and that had made even walking on the path towards the sept difficult, pushing through the bushes was nearly impossible and Lysa could feel the thorns ripping into her dress and catching into her hair.

It wasn't actually that long a journey to the actual castle wall though the overgrowth made it feel like she had travelled a dozen leagues, her chest was burning and Lysa was fairly certain that some of the thorns had drawn blood but she would deal with all that later. After feeling along the walls for awhile Lysa eventually found some steps carved into the stone that would take her up to the battlements.

The plants had been creeping up the steps and Lysa slipped and fell on to her hands twice and for a heart stopping moment she thought that she was going to fall over the side and tumble into the bramble below. She thankfully manage to regain her balance and then scrambled half on her hands and knees all the rest of the way up to the battlements.

Once she was up there Lysa tried to catch her breath as she glanced around, as soon as her eyes landed on Petyr crouched over a small pile of stones however she found that getting her breath back was even harder than it was before. Lysa brought up her hands to check that her hair was not too much of a mess and checked her dress to make sure that it wasn't too badly ripped, doing her best to hide the worst of the damage.

Once she was certain that there was little else she could do to make herself look better she began to gently walk over to where Petyr was kneeling, she gently cleared her throat and the love of her life looked up at her in surprise. As soon as he saw that it was her the surprise faded and was replaced by a guarded expression. "Hello Lysa." He said evenly as he reached down to pick a small stone from his pile before throwing it into the river.

Surely someone just saying her name should not have such an effect on her, it should not make her hands feel like she had just shove them over a camp fire and made her tongue feel so unwieldy nor should it make all the blood rush to her face but Petyr had this effect on her. It had to be love, the blacksmith's apprentice was handsome as well, in a lowborn sort of fashion and he didn't have this effect on her. "Hello Petyr, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I am doing Lysa? I am throwing stones into the river."

"Why?"

"Because I can't throw them at Brandon Stark." Never had words been so cruel to her, never had they inflicted such pain. She knew that Petyr was as unhappy as her father was happy when news had finally arrive by raven that her sister and Brandon Stark, the heir to Winterfell had finally been wed in the Winterfell's godswood. Her father had been worried about how long Cat had spent in Winterfell without being wed and when the scroll had come she could see the weight being lifted.

But when the news had reached Petyr's ears she had watched as he had stormed off to his own chamber's, a part of her couldn't help but think that he deserved it, at least a little bit. He never noticed how much it had hurt her to watch as he loved her sister more than he ever did her when Cat would never give him the time of day, when she had laughed at him.

Lysa had never forgiven Cat for that. Not truly. She had never thought that her sister had it in her to be that cruel.

She knelt down next to Petyr and took a stone from the pile and throw it over the battlements, Petyr didn't turn to look at her but he didn't say anything about it as he took another stone for himself and threw that. For what seemed like far too short a time the two of them sat there with one another, throwing stones into the river.

"She can't be happy with him." Petyr finally spoke as he looked down at the stone he had picked up, gently rubbing his thumb over it. "How could she? They don't know anything in the North, they don't hold tourneys and it's meant to be freezing cold. She'll get sick, I know that she will. I don't understand why your father would be so cruel to me, to her as well. I could make something of myself in time. A man worthy of your sister, the man who built that bridge over the Green Fork was nothing once and now House Frey is one of your Lord Father's most powerful bannermen!"

Lysa bit her lip and felt tears welling up in her eyes. He really couldn't see how every single word that he uttered ripped into her, could he? She reached out and gently took his hand. "It is not so cold in the North, and Winterfell is warmer than you might think. It's built on hot springs and there are these pipes that carry the water all around the castle so it is always warm inside."

"And Cat...my sister seems happy Petyr, at least I think she did. She was willing to marry Brandon Stark at least. Even if she didn't, she's wed and she's hundreds and hundreds of miles away. There's nothing that you can do, you're never going to have Cat." She brushed her thumb on the back of her hand. "But...maybe, you could have someone else instead. Someone who wants you, truly."

She began to lean in before Petyr's hands came up to hold her back by her shoulders, the look in his eyes made her want to cry. Lysa could think of no other word for it other than disgust. "You? You think that I would ever want anything to do with you? Lysa, I would much rather be married to an actual trout than have anything to do with you. You're pathetic." And just like that, Petyr was gone. The sound of his footsteps hurrying away echoing in her ears.

Lysa wasn't sure exactly how sure she sat there with tears streaming down her face but eventually she found some strength, got to her feet and made her way back to the carved steps. She made it back down without incident but Lysa found that she wouldn't have minded if she had fallen, it felt like her life was already over at any rate.

A sudden anger overtook her, an anger at Cat and Brandon Stark and her mother and her father and her uncle and herself for not being more beautiful, for not being more witty, for not being more graceful, for not being more than she already was. She grabbed hold of a brush in front of her and began to rip at it, tearing at the twigs and the leaves and throwing them aside, cursing loudly and not caring who heard.

When she had finally finished tearing into the bush she noticed something that made her frown, beneath the brush that was something that looked a great deal like wood, as she pulled more of the branches away and eventually a door stood in the small clearing that she had made. She knew that she shouldn't but her hand drifted towards the rusted handle and with a sharp tug the door creaked open, it had clearly not been opened in an extremely long time.

Lysa stepped forward and nearly gagged at the stale air inside of the door, she glanced down and was just able to make out stairs that lead downwards and seemed to twist around the wall but she could see no more than that, she knew that she should as she could trip and break her neck or a stone could suddenly come loose from the roof and bash her head in but at the moment she did not think that she would care if that did happen to her and so she slowly began to walk down the steps.

If nothing else, she could at least say that she saw a part of Riverrun that Cat had never seen before.

The stairs seemed to go down and down and soon it became clear to Lysa that she had to be at least under the earth by now, the stairs soon came to an end and though she couldn't see anything due to the pitch blackness the ground seemed even and she felt cracks and spider webs on the walls. She walked and walked in the dark with only her hand offering her any support, her other hand was held out in front of her to stop her from bumping into something.

Her hand hit something that felt like wood and after minutes of fumbling in the dark she finally found the door handle and pulled it open, it was pitch black but she couldn't see much but her eyes had begun to adjust to the dimness and she could soon make out a small room, a small heath was built into the wall and two tables with rotten legs stood in the middle, a few chairs placed around them.

In that moment it occurred to her what she had found, a servants sitting room. She could spy another door but it more than likely only lead down to where the servants had used to sleep. This place had been abandoned even before the gardens had been overgrown and Lysa wondered why she even decided to come down here, it wasn't as if she would find some great treasure or something that would make her pain go away like it wasn't even there to start with.

Lysa heaved out a heavy sigh and turned and began to walk back down the passage way, once she was, what she assumed to be half way back, she stopped. For a moment she thought that she had to be seeing things but no, it was definitely there. A orange light that could only be cast by a torch flame was shining through a large crack in the wall.

She slowly approached, trying to make her footsteps as quiet as possible, and gazed through the crack. She could just make out two figures, both seemed to be dressed in dark cloaks. Neither of their hoods were up but through the crack Lysa could not make out any features about them, she assumed that they were men given how tall and broad one was and how the other was taller than most women than Lysa had ever seen.

Her guess was soon proven right when one of the men began to speak. "Leave it to her to be late, I swear that woman enjoys making things difficult for the rest of us."

"Hoster will bring her in a moment, you must try and be calm." The taller man had a deep voice that sounded familiar though she could not place it while the shorter one had a voice that had been well worn with use and age. "I know that you are anxious but-

"Anxious? Yes of course I am anxious, I want to see this done as quickly as possible and be back beyond the Neck before anyone knows anything and before the Spider's little birds have time to fly." The man kept pacing out of view of the crack and Lysa tried to keep sight of him. "This was dangerous, the three of you should have just come by ship to White Harbor."

"This entire venture is dangerous my Lord, nowhere is safe for us to talk about the things that we do. But if we all suddenly took ship and headed to White Harbor then that is far, far more noticeable."

"I am aware, I am. I just...I just want this to be over."

"Patience Rickard, patience."

Lysa couldn't stop the frown when she heard the shorter man address the taller one by name, they were both clearly high born and the taller man's voice was so familiar and his name was Rickard but it didn't make any sense. If that truly was Lord Rickard of House Stark then why did he not come with an entire retinue and why did her own Lord Father not announce his presence?

Suddenly her uncle's words came back to her, about her father not wishing to be disturbed today. It was like a tapestry that was slowly being assembled in front of her eyes all though she did not have all of the threads yet.

Lysa nearly jumped out of her skin when she thought she heard footsteps approaching but when she turned and saw nothing she realised that it was coming through the wall and the sound of a door being opened made her look back through the crack. Along with the footsteps, for their was a pair of them, there was the sound of something else tapping against the floor with each step. A woman's voice with a hint of steel underneath. "Lord Arryn. Lord Stark."

"Lady Olenna. How kind of you to join us." Lysa was certain that she could hear a hint of annoyance in Lord Rickard's voice. "Does your son know where you are at the moment?"

Lysa heard the woman let out an unladylike snort and the sound of what she could only assume was a stick to help her walk being tapped against the floor rapidly. "My dear sweet dunderhead of a son does know, I told him that it would soon be near the time that your dear mother passed into the embrace of the gods Lord Hoster and I simply had to come to Riverrun as soon as possible so that I might pay my respects to her. Of course, I don't think I ever spoke more than five words to the woman but Mace didn't care at all about that, I was given his leave to go and here I am."

The clearing of a throat that Lysa had memorised soon filled the air and her father, who must have walked into the room with Lady Olenna as he had not been there before, began to speak. "Yes, well. There's that. Regardless there are more important things to discuss. Your son's wife has been returned from the Westerlands Rickard? That is good, it means both you and Prince Doran can make moves without any fear of retaliation against her."

Lady Olenna let out another snort and Lysa tried to get lock at her but only the back of her father's head was visible at the moment. "Forgive me my lords but I remain unconvinced that we need the Dornish. I know for a fact that they aren't as strong as they like to pretend that they are and Prince Doran is more a turtle than he is a viper."

"Perhaps, but his brother is all a viper and when it comes down it I would rather have him and all the spears that Dorne can muster on our side than on Aerys's." Her father muttered. "I have to wonder if it is now time to let the boy know what we have planned."

"No, not yet." Jon Arryn spoke out, a note of alarm in his voice. "I know that we must eventually but Robert is a bold boy and can be prone to rashness. I would much rather we wait until we know where all the pieces are going to fall before we move."

"We never know where all the pieces are going to land." Lord Rickard spoke. "For all your fancy talk, your game of thrones is more like a drunkard rolling dice than any of you would care to admit. Your set your pieces but in the end all you can do is hope that they go the way that you expect them too, if you don't than you've lost everything."

"And here you are playing it with the rest of us." Olenna's voice held a note of amusement and Lysa could almost see Lord Rickard biting on his lip to stop himself from screaming. "I will not deny you have a point, the Crownlands wouldn't dare risking Aerys's wrath, they will not turn against him. Tywin Lannister's daughter is going to be queen and his grandchild, assuming that it is a boy, will be king. He won't side against him, not now."

"What of your son, Olenna." Her father asked the dowager lady of Highgarden. "Where will the Lord of Highgarden stand on this matter?"

"If my son had any sense he would pledge his banners to your cause but Mace has never been full of that, it would depend on Lord Tywin I think. If he supports Aerys then Mace will go with him. If Tywin supported us then Mace would follow strength, he always has done."

"The Reach and The Westerlands together can field as many men as the other five kingdoms combined, if that happened then it would not be an easy fight for us." Jon Arryn pointed out as he stepped into view of the crack, the man was old enough to be her grandfather. "There must be someway that we could make Tywin side with us, he and the king are not on the best of terms. Could we not use that?"

"Jaime." Lord Rickard spoke and everyone turned to face him. "The boy's unwed, we propose a match between him and one of our house and that would dived Lord Tywin. At the very least it might make him hesitate, or maybe have him sit the war out in Casterly Rock. And it might put to bed any rumours that might be flying about him and my gooddaughter."

"I have no daughters to wed, Robert has no sisters."

"I have two daughters, both older than Mace and both are married and both are far too much like me. My lords may choose which is the biggest problem."

"Lyanna is betrothed to Robert."

"Cat is married to your Brandon and Lysa...Lysa." A note of happiness finally entered her father's voice, happiness and pride. "My little Lysa, the Lady of Casterly Rock. Yes, we could at least approach Lord Tywin with the offer."

"If he accepts then we have an actual chance, Mace wouldn't dare stand with the King if five other kingdoms stand against. I hope he's not that big a fool at any rate. I will arrange a lunch with Lady Tanda Stokewothy and Lord Giles Rosby, both are on Areys's doorstep and both could be useful if you are going to take the capital. It does rather put me in the line of fire but given how he's been acting lately if Aerys's spider comes to him and tells him that Mace Tyrell's mother took tea with a minor lord and lady I think the spider is more likely to be burnt than I."

"Are we certain that we should not speak of the letter?"

"Rickard. No. Rhaegar may be plotting to move against his father with Tywin but I knew Aerys when he was young and Rhaegar is the spit of him, Tywin will see that as well. We can't trust him and when we offer Tywin a better deal he will jump ship as fast as he can." The three lords and one lady spoke on but Lysa heard none of it, she turned and began to slowly walked down the corridor until she finally reached the stairs.

Once she stepped into the garden she leaned against the wall as her father's words rang in her ears and the pride in them pulled her heart back together after Petyr has so cruelly stepped on to it. His little Lysa, he had said. The lady of Casterly Rock, he wanted that for her. He wanted Jaime Lannister, for her. Petyr had fled her thoughts as she stood up and began to race as quickly as she could through the brush.

She had to send a raven to Cat, to tell her as soon as possible!

End of Chapter Forty-Five

* * *

 **Welp, new chapter done.**

 **I hope everyone liked it but can I just say I really hate writing Littlefinger's name, it is really annoying to do and you have no idea how many times I had to go back to correct it.**

 **Anyway, that little tangent aside I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as it was important to me that you see what the other plotters were up to but I didn't want to just put us right in the mind of one of them as that seemed too direct.**

 **Please follow, favourite and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	46. Chapter 46

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Six

Elia sighed happily as Mors finally settled in her arms and the warmth of the fire in the heath and the warm spring water being carried through the pipes making the room warm enough for her to be comfortable. Winterfell had been a boon when it came to her health, she was still fairly weak even after the birth and the thought of traveling the distance between White Harbour and Winterfell, even in a wheelhouse that Lord Wyman had generously provided for her, had not been something that she had looked forward too.

But she was glad that she had undertaken it all the same, the wheelhouse had not been the largest that she had ever been in, the Lannister one had been that and even the one that she arrived in the North in with Ashara and Lauryn had been larger than this one, it looked like it could just maybe fit five people, if one of them was a child.

Still, most of the time it had only been her inside of it as Ned had spent most of his time on horseback as was the eldest Stark that was present now that Lord Rickard had gone south and Brandon was still in Winterfell and it would look bad if it seemed he was shunning the man and Lyanna had detested the idea of not being able to ride, Ned had always said his sister was half a horse and Elia had no trouble believe in that.

Watching Lyanna ride was an eye opening experience, she was still certain that the sand steeds of Dorne had no equal in all of the Seven Kingdoms but watching Lyanna had proven to her that the rider had a great part to play as well. The way the horse had moved it was like it didn't even have a rider at all.

Elia was certain that she has also never seen her goodsister quite as happy as when she was on the back of her horse. She hadn't wanted to take that away from her and so Elia had been almost companionless aside from her babes. She had sung them songs and told them stories but conversation was something that she sorely lacked, she wished that Ashara had been there.

Ned had popped his head in at times, sat with her for a little while their party stopped and held their children but while they had been moving Ned re-joined the party and rode with them, speaking to Lyanna and Benjen and the people. It was silly, but at the time it almost seemed to her like he was trying to spend as little time with her as possible, even when sitting with her in the wheelhouse most of his attention was on their children. Not that she blamed him for that, she would love to spend all of her time with them and he had not had as long with either of their boys as she had.

But it didn't seem like that, it seemed as though he was avoiding her. That thought was like someone had reached into her chest, taken hold of her heart and squeezed it. She knew the only reason why Ned would be avoiding her, it could be the only reason. He thought that she was in love with Jaime Lannister, it could be the only reason. At least it was the only reason that she could think off.

A soft whimper of distress brought her out of her thoughts and she looked down to see that Mors was whimpering as her tears landed against his chubby face, she was crying so often lately that this was becoming more of a problem. She gently soothed him and rubbed the tears away before they could dry on his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Once the babe had quietened she placed him down into his crib.

His brother was still sleeping peacefully in his own cot, his tiny hand clenching and unclenching as if he was trying to take hold of something. Elia leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead and then pressed another kiss to his brother's. Once she was certain that both boys were settled and were not going to rouse she picked up her napkin which she was using for her embroidery and sat on the ledge of the window.

A snow storm had settled in, heavy fat snow flakes pilling up on the outside of the window but there was no chill in the room, the nursery was one of the warmest rooms in the entire castle, perhaps the warmest even without the fire roaring in the heath. It had to be, babes were so venerable when they were this young and the cold was their worst enemy, even more deadly as they were in Winter.

She glanced down into the courtyard below, a moving mound of snow which could only be Hodor was pushing through the snow that was now pushing against the walls of the castle towards the stables, two large bags of what she could only assume were oats were slung over his shoulders. Elia suddenly found herself feeling sorry for the horses, standing out there in the freezing cold and realised that she had not seen her Swift Ash since she had left for King's Landing.

The creature had always been her favourite of the several sand steeds that had been raised in her mother's stable not that she had many opportunities to ride him. The Sand Steeds of the lowest breeding could run for a day and a night with only a mouthful of water but the Steeds from the Stables of Sunspear could ride for almost five days without drinking.

But a Sand Steed was not used to this sort of cold, they were never meant to come this far North and Elia was terrified that if she let the beast out of the stables and took him for a ride then he would get sick and die here. She could only hope that the beast was warm and well fed inside of the stables, Elia's delicate health meant that she couldn't risk going outside into the cold.

Elia placed her needlework down and sighed heavily, in truth Elia felt trapped, and very alone. Not as much as she had when she had been trapped at Casterly Rock with the Lannisters but this feeling hurt her a great deal more, she had thought that once she was back at Winterfell then she would be happy again but Ned was barely speaking to her, Ashara had been avoiding her for a reason that she didn't understand, she couldn't speak to Lord Rickard about it as had made it clear that he had disapproved of how close she had allowed Ser Jaime to get to her on their journey back to the North.

Lyanna was not someone that Elia would chose to confide in even though the girl had confided in her about the fact that she did not know any of her sums, the girl was easier talk to now but Elia truly didn't feel comfortable with speaking about it with her, Lyanna loved her older brother and in any matter she was likely to assume his side.

And Benjen, well, Benjen was just a boy. A very clever boy indeed and he had always been sweet and kind with her but he still would not understand. Elia didn't think that she had ever felt more alone in her entire life, and for just a moment she found herself wishing that she was still on her way back to the North and that Jaime Lannister was still at her side.

That thought sent a jolt through her and her needlework slipped out of her hands and clattered against the stone floor, for a moment she thought that the babes might have woken but after a few moments of silence passed Elia knew they would not wake and so she let out a small sigh of tiredness. She didn't know what to think anymore.

She loved Ned. She knew that like she knew the sky was blue and the sun was warm and the snows were cold but he hadn't been speaking to her and that had made it so hard. She didn't know what to do about it.

The door to the Nursery opened and Bette, the nursemaid and wet nurse of Winterfell walked into the room. She was pretty, with breasts large enough to hold enough milk for both of her children. Elia knew that it was not fair, but she couldn't help but hate her. Elia did feed her children but her own breasts were thin and did not hold enough milk for both of her sons and Elia would not deny them food out of her own pride but to her it seemed just a little more of eveidence of what she was failing at.

Northern ladies were expected to feed their own babes, and Elia couldn't even do that well.

"The little lords asleep m'lady?" Bette asked with that warm smile and sweetness that made Elia feel terrible for hating her as much as she did. Elia nodded silently to her question and Bette sat down in the rocking chair that had been a gift from House Hornwood and Elia wanted to scream at her to get out of it but her courtesy froze the words like icicles in her throat. "I'll stay then and feed the lads when they wake up, if it please m'lady. Lord Brandon wanted to know if you would be coming down for breaking fast or if you wanted something sending up?"

"No. I'll go down." Elia tried to convince herself that it was because that she didn't want any of the serving men to walk any further from the kitchens to the great hall but the truth was she didn't want to stay in the room while Bette was here. She stood up and made her way to the door, hating herself more and more with every step that she took. "Make sure they keep warm."

She stepped out the nursery and shut the door before leaning against it, closing her eyes as she tried to catch her breath for a few moments. Elia felt tears running down her face and she brought up her hand to wipe them all away. Once she had regained her composure she began to walk through the corridors of the First Keep and down to the courtyard.

Elia pulled her furs closer to her as she walked through the snow drenched courtyard of Winterfell, her breath hung in front of her like a fine mist and not for the first time she suddenly wished she was back in Dorne, the nights could be bitter cold it was true but at least the day offered some respite from that. In the North, the days were cold and the nights even worse with the hot springs and fires only doing so much to offer shelter from it.

The great hall of Winterfell was crowded with people and the fires burning in the heaths made the air warm and the comfort it granted her was more than anything she could say. There were large iron kettles set up on either side of the hall and even as Elia approached the dais she could hear the porridge bubbling away inside of them.

Brandon sat in his father's seat with a mug of ale in his hand, his wife sat at his right and Catelyn looked as beautiful as ever with her deep red hair falling around her face like a wave and a small smile on her lovely face, Lyanna was sitting on Brandon's left and she was currently digging into her own bowl of porridge without a care in the world, Benjen was sitting next to his older sister and offered Elia a smile before he tucked back into his own food.

And sitting on the other side of Catelyn was Eddard, he didn't seem to notice her and if he did then he didn't say anything and that felt like someone had shoved her into a pit of vipers, it felt like everyone in the Great Hall was suddenly looking at her but Elia held her head high and took her place next to her husband. A bowl of porridge that had been sweetened with milk, butter and honey was placed in front of her.

"Are the children well?" The hall had been silent aside for a few muttered conversations that were too far away for Elia to hear properly so when Ned spoke to her it caused Elia's spoon to slip out of her hands. She picked the spoon back but didn't try to put any of the porridge into her mouth, she found that she didn't have much of an appetite.

"They are well enough my Lord, I am worried about the cold of course as they are quite young." Elia admitted as she stuck her spoon into the porridge and let it go, the food was so think that the spoon could stay standing.

Her lord husband frowned slightly before he took a sip of his ale. "You have nothing to fear my Lady, the winters are hard but so are Starks. They will endure the Winter and grow strong, I am sure enough of that."

"I pray you are right my lord." That was the last words they spoke to one another for a time, she wanted to speak more. She wanted to apologise to him, she wanted to scream at him for ignoring her for whatever foolish reason he had decided on. She wanted to pick herself up and run back to the nursery and barricade herself inside where no one could harm her or even think of trying.

But Elia knew that she could not do that, she also knew that lack of appetite or no she had to eat to keep her strength up and there were plenty of men and women outside the walls who love a bowl of even unsweetened porridge. She picked up her spoon and began to slowly put the food into her mouth, though she truly did not wish to and each mouthful was sickly sweet.

"Has there been any word from Father?" Lyanna had the sense to not say it out loud, she had whispered it to her brother but it was loud enough for everyone on the Dais to hear it. So far as everyone aside from the family knew, Lord Rickard had suffered another heart attack and had been confined to his guest chambers in White Harbour with only the Manderly maester to see him regularly.

It seemed to have worked as several northern houses sending messages of sympathy and condolences to Winterfell, Lord Rickard hadn't told Lyanna and Benjen that he would be leaving the North only that he would be staying in White Harbour for a while but Brandon had soon told them the truth of the matter, neither of them had been happy about it and Lyanna had threatened to ride to every house and tell them the truth but so far she had shown no intention of carrying out that threat, if Elia had to guess then she would assume that the girl know that doing that would put her father as risk.

Brandon shock his head and whispered back to his sister that there had been nothing yet as they still hadn't known where he had gone and thus they could not send any birds to him. They would simply have to wait until he came back, Elia prayed that he would and he would not come to any difficulty on the road or that he would not have an actual attack.

The king had to know that Elia had made her way back to the North by now, the Spider must have been able to find out. He always seemed to find out anything and if one of his spies found out that the Lord Paramount of the North was south of the Neck and thus far away from the seat of his power and more venerable than he would ever be on his life, Elia did not think that Aerys would pass up a opportunity like that.

A flip of a coin and war could be on them, Elia reminded herself to pray hard tonight that Lord Rickard would return quickly and safely.

There was silence once again as all the men and women in the hall focused back on their food, they all stopped eating for a moment when a cold air blew through the hall and the maester hurried down towards the Dais. His face was still as a lake as he held out a scroll that was sealed with dark blue wax, a trout emblazoned on it. "For you my lady."

Catelyn placed her spoon down gently and took the scroll with a word of thanks for the maester, she broke the seal and pieces of wax fell on to the floor and the table. Elia watched as her eyes scanned the paper before her face paled and her hand clutched at the paper, Ned noticed as well and a frown spread out on his face. "Lady Catelyn? Are you well?"

"Yes, I-I'm fine, thank you Lord Eddard." Lady Catelyn tried to smile but it was clearly wavering before she reached out and took a sip of her ale. "It is a letter from my sister, Lysa. She says, oh it's silly. My lord." Catelyn turned to address Brandon. "My tummy is hurting me a bit, with your leave might I go and lie down for a while?"

"Of course, do you want me to come with you?" Brandon asked but Catelyn was already on her feet.

"No, no. I just want to lie down." And with that Catelyn was gone, asking the maester to attended to her as she walked down the aisle of the hall towards the doors of the hall. There was a quiet muttering erupting in the hall but it soon subsided once again as Lady Catelyn left the hall, Elia could not deny that the seed of worry in her stomach was beginning to sprout.

If it had been something to do with Lord Rickard then Elia was certain that Cat would have told them but the way she had left the hall so suddenly, the entire world seemed to be made of kegs of wildfire at the moment and all they were waiting for was the single spark that would consume them all in the flames and maybe it was paranoid of her but she couldn't help but feel that the spark had just ran out of the hall.

She wanted to be with children now more than ever, there was still porridge in her bowl but she didn't find the strength to finish it. Elia turned her head to look at her husband and placed her hand over his, Ned did not pull away from her hand but the muscles under his skin felt tense, like he wanted to pull away and that hurt her more than any words could say. "I'm going to go and see the children, would you like to come with me?"

Ned swallowed heavily and stared at her for a moment and Elia wanted him more than anything else in the world to say yes, to come with her and hold their children and just talk to her and work with her to get past this. She wanted him to hold her and kiss her like he had used to do, she wanted to take him into her bed and hold one another under their covers not just for love making but for simple warmth, the love making could come later, feeling him deep inside of her and knowing that she was home and that he loved her, that everything would be alright.

And then Ned pulled his hand away and it took all Elia had not to run out of the hall, sobbing all the way. Instead, she decided to adopt a polite, if cold, smile. "Perhaps later then." She spoke softly as she stepped away from the table and began to make her way to the doors, she heard Ned calling after her but she didn't stop and he didn't call for her again.

Walking through the snows back to the First Keep seemed harder than walking to the hall had done, Elia sniffed as tears ran down her face but she quickly wiped them away as she knew that it was cold enough for them to freeze on her face if she didn't. She hurried through the halls of the First Keep as she wanted to be back inside the Nursery as soon as possible.

As she pushed the door open she found that Bette was not in there alone, dressed in a purple velvet gown Ashara was standing over Mors crib with Lauryn in her arms and looking down at her slumbering babe. Ashara turned to look at her and her lovely violet eyes grow wide. Elia stood staring at her dearest friend for a few moments, wondering how they had come to this. She had never hidden anything from Ashara, she had always been able to talk to her and now she couldn't find any words.

They stood staring at one another until Bette broke into the silence. "Hello m'lady, little ones haven't stirred yet. Lady Ashara just came to visit them. I didn't think you would mind."

"I don't mind. Bette, could you give me and Ashara a moment to speak alone? You must be hungry, there's porridge with milk and butter and honey." The wetnurse knew better than to argue and the thought of porridge was clearly to tempting to pass up and so she stood up from the rocking chair and left the room, shutting the door behind her and leaving them in silence except for Lauryn's babblings.

"Have I done something wrong? Are you angry with me for leaving?" Elia asked, every thought that she had ever thought while she had been isolated coming out in a rush. "Are you angry that I didn't take you with me to King's Landing, that I asked you to stay behind and help Lyanna and Cat? What is it? Tell me Ash please, because I can not think of a single thing that I have done that could make you hate me so much that not only did you not come to White Harbour when I got back, and do not tell me it was because your daughter was sick because I am looking at her and she looks fine but that doesn't explain why you haven't given me reason for not speaking to me since I got back to Winterfell."

"Elia, I don't hate you." Ashara shock her head, tears welling in her eyes and Elia wanted more than anything to take her into her arms and comfort her but she couldn't do that, right now she needed answers more than anything. Ashara carried Lauryn over to the small bed that was set up in the corner of the room for the nursemaid to sleep in. Ashara kissed her daughter's head and placed her down on the bed before she turned back to speak to Elia. "I haven't been trying to ignore you, I swear to the old gods and the new that I haven't I just...I didn't know how to talk to you."

"Ashara." Elia spoke firmly as she felt the tears running down her face, staring at this woman who had never had to doubt how to speak to her. "We've known one another since we were born, I love you like the sister that I never had. What could you have done that was so terrible that you couldn't find a way to speak to me about it?"

Ashara let out a noise that that was some bizarre mix of a cough, a laugh and a sob. "It's Brandon."

Elia's eyes narrowed for a moment as she took that in, confusion and anger warring inside of her for the right to show itself. "Ashara, I already know about Brandon. You told me about this before, remember? I already know that he's Lauryn's father."

"No, it's not that." Ashara muttered as she ran her fingers through her thick dark hair and tears slid down her face and fell down to the stone floor below. "I love him Elia, he's a terrible person and a pig but I do love him, I really truly do."

Elia couldn't hold back anymore and she crossed the distance between them, taking her friend into her arms and pressing a kiss to her forehead and ran her fingers through her hair. Trying to do her best to sooth and comfort her, all the anger she had held towards just draining away. Ashara sobbed roughly in her arms and Elia just held gently to her.

After a while Ashara quieted, only letting out the occasional sob or whimper escaping from her and she just rested inside Elia's embrace, Elia making no move to let go of her. Movement out of the corner of her eye made Elia look down and she saw Lauryn grabbing on to her mother's skirts, tugging at them. "Mama? Why are you sad?"

Ashara pulled away and reached down to pick up her daughter, holding her tightly and kissing the side of her head. "I'm not sad my Love, don't worry." Ashara carried the girl over to the rocking chair and sat down into it, rocking her and humming under her breath until Lauryn rested her head against her shoulder and shut her eyes.

Elia sat down on the end of the bed and stared at her friend for a moment, understanding slowly creeping in to her. "Brandon knows, doesn't he?" She whispered, trying not to wake Lauryn or her babes from their slumber. Ashara stared at her with wide eyes, the shock in them answering her question more than any of her friend's words ever could. "He knows that he's her father."

Ashara swallowed heavily as her hold on Lauryn tightened, she didn't say anything but she nodded once and Elia let out a heavy sigh, her fingers came up to run through her dark hair. Nothing could ever be simple, could it?

"I didn't tell him, I swear to you I didn't. But he's smarter than I ever gave him credit for. He figured it out, he knew that I took him to bed when we were at Stokeworth and he must have seen some resemblance to her." Ashara sighed and pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's head. "He doesn't love Catelyn, he said that he doesn't and that he wants to be with me. He only married her because a raven came from Riverrun, Hoster Tully was getting more and more anxious the longer she stayed here and wasn't wed."

Elia honestly doesn't know what to say to her friend, to love someone who loved you back but couldn't be with them due to other people's arrangements. She had gone through that, once when Rhaegar was stolen away from her and again when his mad father had separated her from Ned. She could tell her that it would be okay but the honest truth was, it wouldn't be okay. Catelyn was Brandon's wife and if Ashara tried to interfere with that then it would not end well for her or for her family.

"Sometimes I think that it would just be better if I had left her at Starfell, but I didn't want to leave her alone. But Doran was so insistent that I come with you and I couldn't deny my prince." Ashara muttered and Elia found herself frowning, remembering suddenly that it had been Doran who had commanded Ashara to come with her, did her older brother know that her friend would bring her daughter with her? It had not been the first time that the thought had bothered her.

She shoved the thought away for the moment and looked back at Ashara, the other woman looked exhausted and Elia stood up and walked over to her, helping her up from the chair and sat her down on to the bed. "Close your eyes and get some sleep, don't argue with me. Just rest here and we will talk about this more later, you look exhausted."

Ashara at least saw the sense in not arguing with her and thus laid her head back down on to her pillow, her eyes sliding shut as she held tight to her daughter. Elia pulled the blankets up to cover them both before walking over to her son's cradles, pressing a kiss to both of their foreheads before walking to the door of the Nursery and stepped out into the hallway.

Bette was waiting outside and bent her head as soon as she saw her. "the Lady Ashara is sleeping inside, she's very tired at the moment. Please, leave her be until she wakes of her own accord and make sure my sons are fed. I shall be sleeping in my husband's chambers tonight." And she would be, there was nothing that Ashara could do but there was something that she could do for herself and for Ned.

Bette bowed her head once again and hurried into the room, gently shutting the door behind her as Elia walked down the corridors of the first keep. It didn't take her long to arrive at Ned's chambers but once she opened the door she was disappointed to see that the room was dark and a chill pervaded in the air, her husband's room was one of the rooms in the castle that got the least amount of water from the springs and it was why Ned often slept in her chambers and not the other way around, but one way or the other, she would be sleeping in his rooms with him no matter what.

If he wasn't in his chamber then Elia could only think of one another place that he might be, though she hoped that she was wrong. She quickly hurried through the corridors the keep back to her own chambers and grabbed two more thick wolf furs from the chest at the foot of her bed and draped them over herself before she turned and left the room.

Elia soon found herself back outside in the snows and walked through the courtyard, making tracks in the snows that came up to her knees as she made her way to the gate that would lead her into the godswood. She soon found her husband kneeling in front of the heart tree, next to the lake that had frozen over. The ice was so thin that Elia could see fish swimming under the surface.

There was still the feeling of not belonging that she had felt on her wedding night but she would not let the intimidate her now just as she had not let it intimidate her then, the snows swallowed up the sound of her footfalls and Ned seemed to be ignorant of her presence as he continued to pray in front of the weirwood, it's red tears frozen on it's face. "You know, the first time I saw a sketch of a weirwood in a book I thought that it was the most terrifying thing in the entire world. I had nightmares that night that it would come and try and eat me, Oberyn used to tease me that he could hear the old gods of the North calling me to come and feed them."

Ned turned his head to look at her, surprise on his face but he didn't seem angry. He simply stared at her for a moment before he turned back to gaze into the pale, bloody face of the weirwood as red leaves fluttered down to the snow, Elia would find it beautiful if she didn't have other things on her mind at the moment. "That seemed very cruel of him, it's cold. You should go back inside."

"He was only six, Oberyn and I have always been close but little boys can be cruel at times. He also told me that he would defend me from any who would try and harm me." The memory made her smile and gave her comfort before she stepped forward and knelt down next to her husband. "It is cold indeed, even with three furs I can feel it seeping it into to my bones. Which is why I would much rather we continue this conversation in your chambers, preferably with a nice fire roaring along inside the heath."

Ned glanced at her. "You are going to ruin your dress."

"My lord, forgive me for my crass tongue, but at the moment I do not give a single shit about my dress." Ned stared at her as though she had grown a second head and Elia realised that she didn't think that she had ever cursed in front of her husband before but she didn't care about that, nor would ever start to. "What I do give a shit about, is you. I am not going away until you speak to me, if I need to kneel next to you in the snow until the sun goes down and then comes back up then that's what I will do, of course it does get so cold in the night, and my health is delicate and I did just give birth, I may grow sick if we stay out here."

It wasn't a fair move to make, she knew, but if it was what she had to use to get Ned to speak to her then she would do it. Ned sighed and stood up before he lent a hand down to her to help her to her feet before they began to walk back inside. As they walked through the corridors of the First Keep Ned caught the arm of a severing man and asked him to build a fire in his room, the man nodded and ran ahead of them.

By the time they arrived in his quarters a fire was burning in the hearth and the serving man was standing in front of it, when he asked if they would need anything else they both answered no and the man bowed his head and left the room, shutting the door behind him. The room was still colder than most in the keep but the fire had warmed it up a great deal.

Ned turned to face her and Elia took a breath and looked into his eyes. "Why aren't you speaking to me? You always seem to find an excuse not to, we have not seen one another in months and months and you have barely spoke to me since we left from White Harbour." She felt that she already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from him.

Ned stared at her again and Elia wanted to smack him for looking so calm, she had been caught between a burning fury and a deep, crushing sadness and he looked like he barely felt anything. After a moment he sighed and sat down on his bed before he spoke. "I didn't not want to speak to you because I didn't want to make you speak to me if you didn't want too."

Elia felt as though the entire world just shifted under her feet, she felt more lost now than she had been before. "Ned, you are my husband. I love you, why would I not want to speak to you?"

Ned scoffed and the desire to smack him reared it's head again but Elia held herself back. "Elia, just stop it. Please, do me that one courtesy. I may not be the smartest of men but I am not a stupid one, I know that you are not in love with me. Not any more, if you ever were. You are in love with Jaime Lannister, I do not blame you for that but I will not be treated like I am stupid."

Her stomach fell into a deep dark pit and Elia felt like she had fallen in after it, she knew that this was at least part of the issue but it being aired out in to the open made everything seem like it was a thousand times harder. She swallowed and her mouth and throat felt as dry as a desert dune. "Ned, listen to me. Please, I am not in love with Ser Jaime. I promise you, I told your father this exact thing."

"And I believed you, I swear to you that I did." Ned stood up and began to pace back and forth in front of the bed, his fingers clenching and unclenching into fists as he walked, the frown on his face deepening. "I thought he was being too harsh, but then you asked for me to bring him to you so you could say goodbye to him, and I did so, you asked me to leave you alone with him and I did so despite every instinct I had telling me not too. And then, I heard you crying and came back inside. Why were you crying Elia? If not for saying goodbye to someone you loved."

Elia felt the tears welling up again and rolling down her cheeks, pain blossoming in her chest as she tried to find the words to explain. "I was crying because of what a terrible mother I am, Ned. Because of what a terrible person I am. I wanted to say goodbye to Ser Jaime because he had been a good friend to me, he was kind and apologised when he knew that he was at fault. But he had nothing to do with why I was crying Ned, I promise you that and it was certainly not because I was saying goodbye to someone that I loved."

"I was scared, terrified that one of them would be like me, frail and sickly. But that was all I confessed to him Ned, do you want to know what I did not? Why I am so certain that I am going to burn in the worst of the seven hells? Because of what I was willing to do, I wanted to be back at your side so much that if I didn't. Then I swore to Lord Tywin that I would end my life if he did not release me from his hospitality."

"I would cast myself into the Sunset Sea, I would end my life and our sons as well. If for no other reason, that if I didn't get back to you then nothing else mattered." Elia sobbed roughly and felt her face crumble, but she made no attempt to hide it from Ned. She wanted him to see it. "I was willing to throw the entire realm into blood and fire and steel, in the war I know would happen if I died, if I was not allowed to get back to you."

"So say what you wish about me, my sweet lord husband. Say I am a horrible person, and you would be right. Say I am a terrible mother, and you would be right as I can not even feed them enough." Elia stepped forward as she spoke, the fire of the sun filling her veins even as tears continued to drop down her cheeks. "But never say that I do not love you, for that has never been true."

She stood in silence for moments, Ned cold mask cracked as he was staring back at her with wide eyes and a mouth partially opened. Elia closed her eyes and all so suddenly she felt the flames leave her veins and the coldness seep back into her, she wrapped her arms around herself and simply let her sobs rock through her body.

And then a pair of arms she loved wrapped around her and Elia buried her nose into a strong chest that she loved, she didn't try to hold them back, she simply let herself cry. Sobs that shock her entire body coming out, she felt lips being pressed to the top of her head and whispered apologies being repeated over and over again into her and declarations of how much he truly did love her.

Elia wasn't sure how long she stood in Ned's embrace but she did know that no matter what, she didn't want to leave it. Not tonight, not ever again if she could help it. She pulled away from Ned slightly, holding tight on to his doublet. "Ned, I don't want to leave you tonight. Let me stay here tonight."

"I don't plan on sleeping without you, not ever again." And with that Ned leaned down and kissed her and Elia brought up her hand to run her fingers through his hair, holding on tight to it. Her other hand pulled at his doublet and pressed herself against him. Ned began to pull at her dress, the furs on her shoulders and the strings at the back.

His doublet soon joined her furs on the floor and she ran her fingers over his solid chest and through the field of hair on it. She had missed the feel of it under her hands, her dress fell and pooled around her ankles as Ned, her Ned, a thought that filled her with fire, bent his head and took one of her dark nipples into his mouth, sucking on it until she cried from the pleasure of it.

Elia unfastened his trousers and Ned kicked them off before he wrapped his hand around her waist and carried her over to the bed, he placed her down gently atop of the covers and began to kiss down from her chest, down over her stomach and navel until he was kissing both of her thighs, a cry erupted from her throat as she felt his tongue flicking against her core, the cry almost turned into a shirk as she felt his lips wrapping around the nub of flesh and sucking on it harshly.

She felt her body shake almost a half a dozen times form the pleasure he brought to her with just his mouth and felt a pleasurable, comforting darkness creeping on to her that she would love nothing more than to sink into when she felt his hands clamping on to her hips and turning her on to her stomach. She wept when he finally filled her, a sense of completeness that she had lost surging into her.

His kisses burned her skin and the hair on his chest and around his mouth scratched her in a way that she loved, her fingers played and flicked with her nub as he thrust hard inside of her, he undid her what seemed almost a dozen more times and she was fairly certain that if he continued than her heart might be the one to fail that night.

He stilled inside her only once and he had to put his hands on either side of her to stop himself from falling on top of her, Elia whimpered slightly as he slid out of her but they died on her lips as he picked her up, pulled down the covers of his bed and held her close to his chest. Ned kissed her forehead and rubbed at her back, a thousand words of love had passed his lips that night, and a thousand more seemed due to.

Elia played with the hair on his chest as she shut her eyes and slowly began to give herself into the darkness, she suddenly found that she did not care a single white about Ashara or Brandon or Catelyn or her sister or Hoster Tully or Lord Rickard or Lyanna or Benjen or Ser Jaime or her brothers or any of Oberyn's Sand Snakes or anything else.

For that night, for the rest of that night. The entire world was that one room, she was in bed with her husband, and at least for that night, all was well.

End of Chapter Forty-Six.

* * *

 **Another chapter down and one that runs quite a gambit of emotions I felt, but it brings us back to the core of the story I felt which is Ned and Elia's marriage. It is a story about them and I know people feel I drifted from them somewhat, but keep in mind Westeros and Essos are fully realised worlds and ASOIAF/GOT does not have one protagonist, it's a series with dozens of different characters who all think it's about them.**

 **If I did not show how this relationship altered things, how it affected and changed people and events then I think I would be doing the amazing source material I was inspired by a disservice.**

 **Please review, follow and favourite if you enjoyed, constructive criticism is always welcome.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	47. Chapter 47

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Seven

Jaime woke from a long sweet dream, where he was married to Elia Martell and they had seven children and he was Lord of Casterly Rock. His lady wife had been dressed in Lannister crimson and golden wire had bound her hair into a long black braid. A little boy with eyes of jade and dark curls falling around a light brown face had been sitting in her lap.

A boy that stood as tall as a lion with a sword belt strapped to his waist was teaching three smaller boys how to hold their own swords, both carved out of wood while a girl who had dark curls and dark eyes was sitting with a younger girl, playing with painted dolls and eating small sweet cakes. A warm feeling content had curled in his chest as his hand travelled down to gently rest on Elia's swollen stomach.

He had kissed her then and the hall and their children had drifted away like a fine mist and they were in their bedchambers, he had her pressed against the bed and was kissing her neck, nipping at the skin. Her dark eyes were full of lust and desire and Jaime had felt a surge of pride knowing that he was the cause of it, he had used his mouth and fingers to get her wet and then thrust deep into her, spilling his seed.

When he looked into her face however, it had been hard to distinguish any features. At times he thought they were Elia's dark black orbs but then before his eyes they had changed to the colour of green flames and then changed again to the bluest blue that Jaime had ever seen in his life. They didn't settle on any colour and as a hand shrouded in shadows reached out to him and a splitting pain broke through his head, he woke.

It was not so sweet an end to the dream as he would like but at the very least it had indeed woken him, he brushed his palms over his face for a moment and groaned before he reached for the wash basin as scrubbed at his face. The water was bitter cold but it served it's purpose in shocking him into awareness. Jaime stood from his bed and quickly dressed in a fine slick tunic, a handsome crimson doublet and a pair of black trousers and some boots.

He glanced at himself in the mirror and supposed that he looked well enough for what was coming, it was not a prospect that he was relishing but he had to do his duty to House Lannister as his father, Uncle Kevan and Aunt Genna had made abundantly clear. Cersei had done hers by wedding Rhaegar Targaryen, and still even the thought of his sister with someone else made him want to punch something, and even Tyrion in time would be expected to do his.

Jaime had just always hoped that the time to do his duty would be a long time off, but now it was here. With a sigh he glanced around the room again before he walked over to the door and opened it, allowing the sounds of the inn below to easily drift up to his ears.

The inn was crowded with holding of all the Lannister men that had been escorting him, his uncle and his aunt to their destination. There were more men outside of the inn and almost all the guests at the Inn at that moment were Lannisters or Westermen. Jaime caught sight of Addam Marbrand sitting at a table with a plate of fish. two duck eggs, a strip of bacon that had been charred black and a slice of fried bread as well a mug of dark ale.

As soon as Jaime sat down at the table Addam held up his hand and a tavern wench came over with plate filled with the same food and a another mug of ale, she placed it in front of him and just as soon as she had done that she ran off to another corner of the inn to deal with someone else who was calling for her attention, Jaime shrugged and began to cut into his strip of bacon with his knife.

"Looking forward to meeting your blushing bride?" Addam asked with the tone of voice that made Jaime want to tip his plate of food over his head and condemn him to pick food out of his red hair for the rest of the day, it was a favourite was tactic when they had both been boys at Casterly Rock. It had never been something that either Father or Mother had approved off.

."I am not meeting any bride, it's just meeting her." Not that he would actually have much choice if Father decided he was going to wed her. He popped the bacon into his mouth and chewed it for a moment before washing it down with a swallow of his ale.

Addam raised his eyebrow at that but he at the very least seemed to sense that he know that it wouldn't be best to say anything at the moment and turned his attention to his own food. Soon enough their plates and tankards were both clear and Ser Kevan walked over to them, dressed in a crimson doublet and a soft wool cloak with a golden clasp and a pair of doe skinned gloves over his hands.

His uncle glanced at him and Jaime knew that he was being summoned, Addam sent him off with a one handed wave and left the inn as Jaime followed Kevan over to the stairs and followed him to the room that Aunt Genna had taken. His Aunt was sitting in the bed and was still wearing a night gown and breaking her fast on a bowl of porridge, several slices of bread that had been slathered with blackberry jam along with a small plate of honey cakes.

She nibbled on a honey cake for a few moments before she placed it down on her plate and looked up to speak to them. "Are we like to be at Riverrun before night fall?" She asked as she sucked on her fingers to rid it of the honey.

"So long as the weather continues to hold, if there is heavy rainfall then we may have to slow our pace. We may even have to stop for the night if any of the rivers break their banks." Heavy rain was not uncommon in the Riverlands and if any of the rivers overflowed then it could slow them down for days and days, the sky was clear at the moment but that could change at any moment.

His uncle wasn't wrong however, they were not far from Riverrun now and if they had a smaller party with them then they could have been there in a matter of hours but their father had insisted on sending a large party, knights with squires and pages and dozens of retainers and followers. All to show the wealth of House Lannister, the sheer power that they possessed. A large party did make it less likely that they would be set on by brigands or outlaws but it did slow them down.

But while it had been a slow ride from Casterly Rock now the journey was finally coming to an end, he hadn't been back in Casterly Rock for two days when Father had come to him, finding him in the courtyard while he had been hacking at a piece of wood that he truly had been trying very hard not to pretend that it was Ned Stark, with a letter in his hands.

Jaime had never gotten to read it himself but he had seen the dark blue wax and the halves of a fish and he knew then and there who the letter was from. His father had wasted little time in explaining the letter's contents to him, Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun had written to them and noted how his eldest daughter had been wed to Brandon Stark, heir of Winterfell but that he had a young daughter, beautiful and pleasing and subservient as a good wife should be and that it would be an honor if he would reconsider his opinion on Lysa.

It had been an informal discussion for years now, he imagined the only thing that had been holding his father back would be giving Hoster Tully more power, the man was Lord Paramount of the Riverlands and marrying Catelyn to Lord Rickard's heir gave him power in the north and his father was no fool, marrying Lysa to Jaime would give him influence in the West.

But now his father seemed quite insistent on the match going ahead, he hadn't left the Rock as he had important business to attend to but he had sent Uncle Kevan and Aunt Genna with him, to represent him in negotiations with Lord Tully. Of course, no one could make him marry the girl, no one could force him to say the words but he imagine that if he didn't his father would make his life a living hell.

Aunt Genna hummed from where she sat before she pushed off her covers and bellowed for one of her handmaidens, a woman with red hair and dressed in green ran in and immediately began to pull clothes out of her trunk and laid them out on the bed. "I do not doubt my gallant, brave and oh so handsome Lord Husband will be waiting for me there, eager to take me back to his castle."

Jaime frowned slightly and he knew with out looking that his frown was mirrored on his uncle's face, his Aunt's husband was not held in high regard by anyone of the Rock, he was a Frey after all and that said more than enough. All of the Lannisters had heard the story of the day that Genna was promised to Walder Frey's second son, how Lord Tywin, barely a boy of ten, stood up and spoke out against the march in front of all the lords of the Westerlands and spoke out against the match.

Apparently Walder Frey, who had not been a young man even back then, nearly had a heart attack when a lion cub had stood up for his sister. Nothing his father said at the time had mattered of course, he was just a ten year old but and it was for the Lord of Casterly Rock to decide who would wed his daughter but from all the stories Jaime had heard, there were whispers in the hall that night that while Lord Tytos may never have grown his claws, Lord Tywin had proved that he was a lion worthy of the Rock.

Lagy Genna would not be returning with them back to Casterly Rock once they were done at Riverrun, instead she would be making her way to reside within the Twins until the end of Winter. Jaime wasn't afraid to admit that he would miss her, after Mother had died Aunt Genna had been the closest thing that he and Cersei and Tyrion had ever had to a mother in their entire life. When she was gone it would just make Casterly Rock seem even emptier since Cersei left.

"Who knows? With a bit of luck maybe he got lost, or his horse threw him from his saddle." Jaime muttered and Genna let out a bark of laughter as her maid began to dress her and help her with her hair, a hair net studded with rubies was soon placed over her nest of golden curls and a thick gown made of red velvet soon covered her dress, Jaime and his uncle turned away and stared at the wall as she was dressed.

"Emmon is a fool, I have never had any illusions about that but even he is not likely to have gotten himself killed by his own horse. And you should not say such things Jaime, a fool he may be but he is my husband and you're uncle by law." Genna said once she was fully dressed and turned to him, cupping his face in her hands. "We must stand with one another."

Jaime nodded and then Genna turned her attentions on to her brother and Jaime knew that he had been dismissed, as he walked down to the bottom floor of the inn he noticed that everyone was preparing to move on. He caught sight of Addam berating a young boy who could only be his squire for not saddling his horse correctly, asking if he wanted him to suffer from a broken neck and if he would like a slap on the back of the head.

An hour later they were all saddled and ready, Aunt Genna and her companions taking their place in the wheelhouse, and the journey continued on. It was only a few moments after they had set off that a fine rain began to fall down on to the retinue. It was no harder than a man spitting but the entire retinue seemed to pick up it's pace somewhat.

It was a good thing that they had as by the time they had arrived at Riverrun the rain was threatening to turn into a storm and the Tumblestone and the Red Fork looked as though they were mere moments from breaking their banks. The drawbridge to the castle was down and men rode at five abreast and soon the wheelhouse trundled in after most of the highborn guests were brought inside.

Jaime leapt from his horse and tried not to shiver as the rain continued to pound down on him, his cloak offering him little in the way of protection. He could feel the rain soaking through it and into his skin, all he wanted at that moment was a steaming hot bath and a hot meal and a plump bed with feather pillows that he could sink in to but he had the feeling that he was not going to get all of that.

Two men were in the courtyard to meet them, both wearing thick cloaks that seemed to offer them as much protection from the heavy rain as Jaime's own did him. Red beards hung from their chins and dark blue eyes stared out from thickly lined faces. Lord Hoster was shorter than his brother by half an inch but he still stood taller than Jaime himself and he didn't look like he would be much shorter than Jaime's father, his dark blue eyes seemed to the same colour of the Tumblestone when the rain rippled it's dark blue surface.

The Blackfish was the more handsome of the two, with higher cheeks and a mouth that was clearly more used to smiling than it was to frowning though at the moment his mouth was doing neither, his lips set into a thin, firm line. A boy ran out from the stable to take his horse while Jaime jumped out of his saddle, the soft mud that the ground of the courtyard had turned into squelching underneath his boots.

Another few boys ran from the stables and the squires of knights jumped down to help them, leading the creatures to the large building while the wheelhouse finally trundled in and came to a stop, the door was open and Aunt Genna was the first one out, bundled in so many furs that she looked almost like one of those drawings that Jaime had once seen of a large silver animal that moved on all fours and moved among the trees and mountains of the Summer Isles.

Her other ladies followed her out as Lord Hoster approached Jaime and Kevan, Jaime and his uncle both bowed in front of the lord. Even a Lannister must know when to bow his head, his father's voice reminded him at the back of his mind. They were in the seat of Lord Hoster's power and right now, at least, he was greater than either of them and demand their kneeling, even though Jaime could barely hide a frown as his knees touched and sunk into the mud.

"We thank you for inviting us into your home, it has been a while since I have seen Riverrun and it is indeed only grown more beautiful since the last time." His uncle spoke and Jaime had to find himself agreeing with him, It was a beautiful castle, triangular in shape with blue tipped towers reaching up into the sky and walls made of white stone which were being stained grey by the heavy rain that assaulted it's walls, it might not be as formidable as Storm's End but the rain was unlikely to bring this castle down.

"Thank you for your kind words, Ser Kevan. Please stand up, it would not due to have my most noble guests of Lannister kneeling in the mud." Hoster Tully helped his uncle to his feet and his brother helped up Jaime while Aunt Genna walked over to them, holding out her hand which both of the Tully brothers pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

"My lords and ladies and good sers must be cold, please allow us to show you to your rooms, baths are prepared for all of you and once you are changed come down to the feast hall and you shall see all what the hospitality of Riverrun can offer." Hoster then turned to Jaime and inclined his head slightly. "And the Lady Lysa has been greatly looking forward to meeting you, Ser Jaime. I trust that she will not disappoint you."

Jaime didn't trust his words at that moment, he would rather chuck himself in the river than send one moment with Lysa Tully, and so instead decided to simply smile his smile which Cersei had once told him could outshine the sun and nodded his head, hoping that he looked happier than he actually felt.

A page lead him through the halls of Riverrun to his room where a tub filled with water stood waiting, wisps of steam rising from the surface. After the page had laid out his clothes and Jaime assured him that he wouldn't need any help in getting dressed, Jaime sunk into the tub and allowed the warm water to ease the ache in his bones and chase away the chill.

He closed his eyes and Jaime could feel the temptation to slip into sleep but he knew that he couldn't, his father would be so upset if his only son drowned himself in his own bath. It would give the people of the Seven Kingdoms a story to laugh about into their cups.

Soon he was clean enough and he stood up from the rub and rubbed himself dry with a scratchy towel and pulled on his clothes, a silk tunic and a fine crimson doublet and some trouser that were black as pitch and dark leather boots. He glanced at himself in the mirror in the corner and let out a heavy sigh, it was time to go and face his fate.

The feast hall of Riverrun was not as large as the one of Casterly Rock or the Red Keep but at a push it could hold at least five hundred people and the host that had come from the west numbered over a hundred and thus there was enough room in the hall to fit them. Jaime marched to the dais with all the enthusiasm of a condemned man who would be marching to the Headman's block.

His eyes sought out Lysa Arryn, sitting next to her younger brother. She wasn't an ugly woman, he could be thankful for that much he supposed. Thick red hair falling around a pale face with dark blue eyes, a faint splatting of freckles across her face and her teeth were clean and perfectly set. No, she wasn't ugly at all and yet Jaime didn't want this at all.

He wanted a tall woman with long golden hair that curled at the end and eyes of wildfire, with lips that could form a smile as gentle as a ray of sunshine or a smirk as sharp as a dagger blade. He wanted a shorter woman with curls as black as midnight and lips that demanded to be kissed, eyes that almost looked the colour of honey and a spine of steel that refused to break or bend. He wanted anything but Lysa Tully.

But given by the empty seat on Lysa's left and the fact that there were no other free seats on the dais, it didn't seem like anyone cared about what he wanted. He sat in the seat and glanced at the woman. "My lady." He greeted her plainly and that caused a blush to flush on her cheek and a bunch of breathless giggles fluttered out of her mouth.

After a moment or two the woman managed to regain control of herself all though there was still a foolish grin on her face like Jaime had told her the best jest she had ever heard in her entire life, this was the woman that his father wanted to be the lady of Casterly Rock. He could only hope that his uncle and aunt saw what he saw and managed to convince him against the match.

Eventually the girl found the wits to speak instead of just smiling dumbly. "It's a honour to meet you Ser Jaime, I hope that you find Riverrun to your liking and that I am pleasing to you."

"I can think of nothing more beautiful than Riverrun except for my Lady." It was perhaps the most barefaced lie that Jaime had ever spoken in his entire life but Lady Lysa didn't seem to notice as her blush came back and she was caught in another fit of breathless giggles.

Thankfully the food came then and Jaime had something else to put his attention on, they started on a soup made up of carrots and leeks which had been seasoned with salt and pepper, then came pork sausages seasoned with Dornish spices, the taste made him think of Elia and he then finished off his cup of wine under the guise of cooling down his mouth.

Then came the main courses, large trout's that had been rubbed in bed crumbs and fried in the fat of a goose and severed with a salad of green leaves, watercress and aubergines. The next main was several large gooses which Jaime had to assume was where the fat that the trout had been fried in came from, it was served with a sauce made of plums that was so rich that Jaime wondered if it was meant to be one of the sweets. And the final main course, a large suckling pig with an apple stuffed in his mouth and his body stuffed with chestnuts and white mushrooms and served with a honey glaze and on a bed of leaves.

By that point Jaime was stuffed that he was certain that if he happened to eat another bite then his belly would burst but there was still the sweet to come, two sweets in fact to bring the number of meals up to seven to pay homage to the Seven gods.

The first sweet were honey cakes each the size of a medallion, thick as a castle wall and slathered in honey. The cakes were so sweet and so thick that Jaime could only just take a bite of one and no more without being certain that he would be sick. The last sweet was far more palatable for him to handle, a mixture of cherries black and red, strawberries, raspberries and small chopped pieces of melon floating in thick sweet cream.

He glanced down the table, Lysa was sipping at her fourth goblet of wine with a half eaten bowl of the sweet cream in front of her. When she noticed him staring at her she giggled once again and looked back down on her food. Edmure Tully, Lord Hoster's son and heir was clearly trying his best not to fall asleep which didn't surprise Jaime as he had eaten a great deal of the food and the boy had been old enough that he been allow a glass of wine.

If Hoster Tully noticed that his son was about to collapse face first on the table then he didn't pay much mind to it as he was currently busy speaking to Jaime's Uncle, both of their faces seemed serious but the noise in the hall was so loud and their conversation held in whispers that Jaime couldn't make out anything that they were saying.

Aunt Genna seemed to have favoured the honey cakes over the sweet cream as the remains of at least three rested on her plate, she had eaten well that knight and her cheeks held a slight red tint from the two cups of wine she had. Emmon Frey was sitting next to his wife and he looked as pale and miserable and stupid as ever, Aunt Genna barely seemed to notice that he was there and in all honesty that was for the best.

And finally the Blackfish himself was sitting at the end, he didn't look happy as his dark eyes were examining the rest of the hall, Jaime noted that he was still on his first goblet when ever his older brother was nearly finished with his second. He didn't look happy to have so many westermen in one place and Jaime wasn't sure why that would be.

Still, Jaime followed his gaze and examined the rest of the hall, it was about half full as even though the westermen's numbers only came over a hundred a great deal of the Riverlords had come as well, close to the dais were the lords Blackwood and Bracken, a place of high honour and neither and higher than the other in order to avoid starting a fight, or a war as the case may be.

There were dozens of other Freys in the hall aside from his Lady Aunt's husband, each as ugly as the next and dressed in grey lambs wool. The naked maid of house Piper was dancing over a dozen man's breasts while others bore the plowman of Darry or the acorns of Smallwood. Indeed it seemed that every house of note in the Riverlands had sent members so that they might be represented.

Every house expect for House Whent, no matter how hard Jaime looked he could not see the black bat on any man's breast. If he hadn't drunk so much of wine or eaten so much food than he might have taken a moment to consider what the might have meant but alas, he had drunk and eaten well and his mind drifted from one thing to the next.

He soon caught sight a sulky youth, dark hair and small with green eyes which looked like moss instead of the brilliant emerald of his and Cersei's own. His gaze was dark as he glanced up at the table and then back down at his plate. He didn't seem to be with anyone so Jaime had to guess that he must have been Lord Hoster's ward or mayhaps his bastard. Did Lord Tully have a bastard? Did his brother? He couldn't remember now.

"I hope that we will have food like this at our wedding, I admit that I do not know much about what you eat in the Westerlands though. I hear apples are gown there quite a lot, I like apples a great deal, do you make cider? I had cider from the Reach once and I loved it. Oh, and cucumbers!" Lysa Tully had taken to speaking to him again and the strange urge to throw her into a river had returned to him. "Do you have any idea when will be wed? I hope that the winter doesn't last much longer and then we can be wed in the Summer, it's meant to be bad luck if you wed in the Winter."

 _"Our marriage will be colder than any Winter, I promise you that my lady. It will be colder and darker and drag on longer than the Long Night itself and will bring ill fortune on us both."_ Jaime said none of that, instead he merely stood and caught the attention of Lord Hoster. "I pray that you forgive me my lord, I am afraid that my head is light and stomach as full, I would beg your leave to retire."

Lysa whimpered her distaste at that idea but Lord Hoster gave him leave to do so even as Jaime saw a look of slight disapproval on his uncle's face, promising a hunt on the morrow. Jaime left the hall as quickly as he could without making it seem like he was trying to get away from the hall, as he reached the doors he was certain that he could feel someone glaring at his back but he didn't stop to turn around and look at who it might be.

He soon found himself back in his room and collapsed back down on to his bed, the sounds of the hall still echoing in his head. He closed his eyes and though his body seemed to be begging for him to give into sleep, he couldn't. He was still brimming with the thought of having to marry Lysa Tully. He hated this, he hated all of it.

He sat up and his eyes landed on a writing desk, a thought came into his mind. He stood and walked over to the writing desk and retrieved some parchment. He stared at it for a moment before he retrieved some ink and a quill and began to write. Cersei. She would know what to do, she was going to be the queen some day and she would fix it. She would write to father.

Jaime was too tired and too drunk to find the ravens of Riverrun and so instead crawled into his bed and clutched his scroll close to his heart, promising himself there and then that this would not happen. It wouldn't.

He fell asleep then and dreamed that he was Cersei's husband and the father of her children.

End of Chapter Forty-Seven.

* * *

 **Yep, Jaime's still an arsehole. If that's not clear, while I love all three Lannister siblings, I do have to admit that I don't like it when people say that every bad thing that Jaime does is Cersei's fault. Bran, for example, Cersei did not ask Jaime to push Bran out of the window, he did it because he thought it was what she wanted.**

 **Also, another thing that bugs me is that apparently some people think that Cersei seduced Jaime into their relationship when now, it's pretty equal on both sides when it comes to rolling in that muck.**

 **Anyway, that little rant aside I hope that everyone will leave a review if they enjoyed as well as a follow and a favourite. Constructive criticism is always welcome.**

 **With much love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	48. Chapter 48

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Eight.

Cersei's frown was heavy as she rubbed at her swelling stomach, she wasn't a fool as to believe such a thing but she was almost certain that it seemed a little bigger each day and every day was more uncomfortable than the last. The baby was more active than most at this stage and it's favourite place to sit as of late had been her bladder, she hadn't been able to go an hour without making water for weeks.

She would have been able to endure that easily enough but the lack of affection from her prince had been shortening her temper as of late and to make things even more unbearable her only constant company that she had any more was from her goodmother, the foolish flock of hens that called themselves her ladies, her dear prince's beastly little brother and that foolish old lickspittle Pycelle.

They had all the wits of a monkey between them and that was only on a good day and yet she was forced to surround herself with all of them and not with her prince, where was where she had wanted to be more than anywhere else. She had gone to see him the other day and yet those arrogant guards had turned her away, saying that her husband had said not to be disturbed by anyone as he was in the middle of a meeting with the Hand of the King.

At that moment she had wanted to sized a sword from one of the guards that had been hanging from their belts but she knew that she couldn't do that, for one a sword was too heavy for her to hold and she couldn't fight both of them off and she had no training when it came to using a sword and her prince would probably not take too kindly to her killing his guards.

She sighed as she adjusted herself trying to find a comfortable spot on the bed, most of her time was spent sleeping when she wasn't forced to spend time with her ladies or reading the same old books over and over again. Her goodmother often invited her to walk the streets and pay custom to goldsmiths or to seamstresses or to go and pray in the sept of Baelor.

Many times she knew that she had no choice but to go but as of late she had been able to use her belly as an excuse to escape the long hours of tedium, so there had been some relief there. Still, she had to wonder if it was truly wise. The queen clearly had her son's ear and when the king wasn't using her and her son wasn't speaking with the Hand, she was speaking to him. Cersei wondered how much of what she was saying was about her.

Soon she abandoned the idea of finding a comfortable spot and pushed herself up, calling for one of her handmaids, a girl from one of the lesser branches of House Crakehall who had come to King's Landing to serve the future queen which was in truth apparently a gift from Cersei's father to hers, to come and dress her for the day ahead.

She choose a dress of green silk, loose around the waist with a golden hairnet with emeralds woven through it. She caught sight of herself in the looking glass and smiled, she was the most beautiful woman in all seven kingdoms. Many simpering fools who had been foolish enough try and court her had told her so but Jaime and Rhaegar had always told her so as well and neither of them would lie to her.

She chose two rings, one made of solid silver and shaped into the likeness of a roaring lion with a ruby set into his mouth and another that was a dragon's roaring maw carved out of jet with an amethyst set into it's mouth. Next came a golden amulet with an emerald the size of a goose egg set into it, it almost glow in the soft sunlight.

And then finally, was her crown.

It was silver, finely made and so thin that each time it was picked up that she thought that it would snap like spun sugar. A large fire opal was set into the centre of it and it looked like a dozen colours were at war inside of it. It was pretty enough, to be certain, but she wanted something more. She wanted a crown of gold with diamonds clear and black and rubies and emeralds and carved dragons and lions roaring among pillars of gold.

But not yet, when she was a queen, but a princess would make do.

Her maid brought her food with which she broke her fast, a loaf of bread with freshly churned butter and a jar of honey, two ducks eggs cooked so that the orange blood slipped through the gooey white flesh and a bowl of raspberries, blueberries and grapes. To wash it down was a cup of mint tea which she sweetened with her entire pot of honey.

Once she had eaten and her plates were taken away there was a knock at the door and her maid opened it to see outside, she shut the door for a moment before she turned back to Cersei. "It is the queen and prince Viserys, princess."

Cersei stood up, using a hand to support herself. "Let them in." The maid nodded and pulled the door open, Queen Rhaella was dressed in a gown made of crushed purple velvet that made her eyes stand out, a necklace of moonstones encircling her pale neck. Prince Viserys was clinging to his mother's hand tightly and was dressed in a dark black doublet with a red cloak hanging from his shoulders with a sliver three headed dragon clasp keeping it fastened.

Cersei noticed that the little prince's eyes were red, as though he had been crying heavily just before coming to her chambers and the Queen's face was carved out of stone, not even her eyes giving anything wrong. Her voice was cold as winter when she spoke. "Gooddaughter, my royal husband is holding court. You are to come with me?"

She couldn't hide the stab of fear in her gut, she was no fool. She knew that the king was mad, his temper was a fierce thing and as uncontrollable as the wildfire that he was so fond off. The king hadn't held court since Cersei and her husband had been summoned back from Dragonstone, it had fallen to his hand to hold that honour and deal with the complaints.

Cersei found that she couldn't find her tongue to speak and so she simply nodded before she found a long cloak of crimson with a dragon and a lion entwined on it, she felt cold all of a sudden. But as she was about to clasp it her goodmother's hard voice cut through the silence of the chamber. "Find a different cloak, you shall not wear that one to court."

A flare of irritation consumed her then and Cersei found that could not hide it even if she wished to do so, she turned back to face the Queen. "Why not?"

"Because I said that you will not."

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Do not argue with me girl!" The sudden fury that had entered the Queen's voice was so different to how she normally spoke that it caught Cersei off guard and made her take a step back, the Prince Viserys let out a whimper and Rhaella sighed before she placed her hand on top of her younger son's head, bringing her fingers through his hair before she turned her attention back on to Cersei. "I am your Queen, if I tell you to wear a different cloak then you will wear a different cloak. Now, hurry. We must not keep the king waiting."

Cersei said nothing but made her displeasure known by taking her cloak off and throwing it roughly as it landed at the queen's feet, the queen said nothing as she stared at her with that blank expression back in place. Cersei walked over to the chest where the first cloak had come from and her maid began to dig through it to find one she was fond of.

 _"Enjoy you're little power while you can, you old cunt. When I'm queen I will have you sent to Dragonstone to rot and convince Rhaegar to send your snot-nosed little brat to the Wall."_ The thought was a sweet one and it would not be beyond her power to do so, Viserys was only needed around the Red Keep until Rhaegar had an heir of his own and Cersei did not plan on stopping giving him them.

Besides, there was great honour to be fond at the Wall and if Prince Viserys happened to have his head caved in by a wilding's axe, well, no one would weep harder than her. She would teach this old woman that she was not one to be crossed.

A new cloak was soon found of her, it was made of silk and not as thick but that was fine enough. She found that the chill she had been feeling had left her and this one she was able to clasp on without a single word of protest.

The royal family, such as it was, made their way through the corridors of Maegor's Holdfast. Ser Barristan, Ser Arthur and Ser Lewyn pale and silent ghosts following after them.

The Great Hall was throbbing with lords and ladies when Cersei, Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys took their place in the gallery. Cersei spied Jon Connington standing next to the Iron Throne on it's right, his expression hard to make out from where she was standing. She could not make sight of her husband but then she imagined it was possible that he had not arrived yet.

As if he had heard her thoughts, Rhaegar walked into the throne room via the King's Door and spoke some word into Lord Connington's ear before he took his place on the left of the Iron Throne.

The Herald's voice cut through the muttering of the great hall. "Now presenting Aerys Targaryen, second of his name, King of the Andels, the Rhoynar and the First Men. Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and protector of the realm." With such a long list of titles you would expect a tall man, handsome and powerful if no longer in the height of his youth.

But the man who came in through the king's door, guarded on all sides by the other four members of the Kingsguard, was a poor old wretch wearing purple robes so filthy that they looked more black than they did purple. Along with not letting his hair be shorn or his nails cut, he had apparently forsworn bathing now as well as to not appear vulnerable to any man.

And yet all the king had succeed in doing was make himself appear more vulnerable than ever before, he was as thin as a rake and how he had the strength to get up in the morning alluded her. Baelor Targaryen had fasted himself to death, unless his own hand poisoned him, perhaps that would be the way that another Targaryen met their end.

The king ascended the throne and sat down on to it, Cersei thought that she saw him wince but said nothing of it. She knew that some called him the scab king for how often he cut himself on the blades of the Iron Throne. There was some peasant superstition that if the blades of the throne cut into the flesh of the ruler that sat upon it then it was a sign that the throne had rejected them and that they were not meant to sit upon it.

It was foolishness, it was a chair made out of burnt and twisted metal. She imagined that every king and every hand that had ever sat on the throne had cut themselves on it at least the once. Still, the Mad King cut himself more often than most had ever been said to done. And yet he still sat upon it, he still ruled. But maybe not for much longer.

The court carried on for a time, lords and merchants and peasants came forward and presented their grievances and much to Cersei's shock, it seemed as though the King was having a calm day. He had not summoned the Pyromancers as of yet nor had he order anyone's tongue to be ripped out. It seemed that same shock that she felt was being mirrored on her goodmother's face.

There were a few close moments, a begging brother had come forth and reminded everyone of the burning of the High Septon and compelled the lords and ladies to rise up and stand against the king lest they be condemned to the worst of the Seven Hells. The brother was not burned for his words nor was his tongue removed but he was dragged off to the black cells, more than likely to be burned at a later date.

That was the worst that happened however and sooner than Cersei had been expecting, it was over. The king stepped down from the Iron Throne and hurried out of the king's door with three of his guard and his hand hurrying after him. Her husband spoke softly to Oswell Whent, words she could not make out from here, before they left the hall as well.

Cersei could not hide her frown at that even if she chose to do so, he couldn't be ignoring her. He just could not, the babe seemed to pick up on her upset and writhed in the confines of her womb. She placed her hand on her belly and tried to breath to calm them. "Cersei? Are you well?" Her goodmother's voice seemed so very far away.

She cleared her throat and nodded and made her excuses, claiming tiredness and needing to rest. She did not wait to hear an excusal before she turned and walked away, trying to bite back her tears of rage as the heavy footsteps of Ser Arthur followed after her.

Soon enough she was back in her chambers and laying on her bed, rubbing at her eyes while trying to hold the tears back. Her husband loved her, she was sure of that. He had too, she was the most beautiful woman in the world and all that she did, she did to please him and make him happy. If he wanted a hundred children then she would bare them for him, she swore that she would. Rhaegar had to love her, he had too.

She hated how pathetic she felt, how weak she must have seemed. A sad and silly wife who wept buckets every time her husband didn't pay a scrap of attention to her but she could not help it. She wanted him to touch her like he used to, to fuck her till she screamed and wept from the pleasure of it all. She wanted him to play his harp only for her.

Dragonstone, she wanted the man she had back on Dragonstone.

The sound of the door opening made her sit up and rub at her eyes, no one living would ever see her like this, and she turned to face her maid. She presented a letter that had been brought to the room and Cersei dismissed her as she stared down at the red wax that sealed the letter. She broke the seal and ran her eyes over the letter, allowing the words to burn into her mind.

And in that moment she wanted flames to consume the world and all the people in it.

Lysa Tully? That simple minded cow? What could her father be thinking, wedding Jaime, her Jaime, to that foolish sow. No, no, no. She would not have it, she would not. She would burn all of Westeros from Last Hearth to Sunspear to the ground before she let that happen. Cersei throw her cloak back on and stormed over to the chamber door, wanting all of the Red Keep to feel her rage.

She pulled the chamber door open and found Ser Arthur standing outside waiting, he seemed surprised at her sudden appearance and her temperament but said nothing about it. "Princess? Are you leaving?"

"I need to see the Grand Maester." And with that Cersei pushed past him, caring little and less if he was following her or not. Pycelle was her father's creature, she had always known that to be the case. Whenever she overheard him speaking with his brothers he would often speak of Pycelle, of what he had to report on the small council or of the king's condition.

And if Pycelle was his creature then that made him hers as well. She stormed over the drawbridge of the Holdfast and made her way to the tower which held the Rookery and the Grand Maester's chambers. She ascended the stairs but made no move to the door, she turned to Ser Arthur and granted him her sweetest smile. "Might I ask you to wait out here, Ser Arthur? I promise you that it will not take long at all. It is simply a womanly complaint."

Ser Arthur said nothing, merely nodded and made his place beside the door. Cersei did not knock, she opened it and walked inside.

Pycelle was sitting at his desk, his long snowy white beard touching the desk itself. She found herself wondering how funny it might be if one of the candles on the desk caught it on fire. Pycelle seemed stunned at the entrance but relaxed once he noticed it was her, she wanted to slap him for that insult. "Princess, more beautiful with each and every day that passes."

Even the smartest of men passed out the same empty platitudes again and again, it seemed. Still, it served her best to play along. Cersei sat down and open her mouth to speak, before deciding instead to sob. "Oh, oh princess. What could ever be of such upset to bring this on? Are you worried for the babe? Is there some pain that I might help you cure?"

"In a fashion Grand Maester." Cersei spoke once her tears that she had summoned dried on her cheeks and were wiped away by her soft, pale hand. "I fear for myself, and for my husband."

"Fear?" The old man's eyes went as wide as boiled eggs and Cersei could feel the snare tightening, she had him. "Princess, what could there be here that you woulf need to fear? Your husband shall keep you safe from any threats, no doubt. And the kingsguard are sworn to protect you from any and all who would dare do you any harm?"

"It is the Kingsguard that I fear for, not that I would think any of that noble order would do me any harm. You understand." She rubbed at her eyes again. "But if I am attacked, if my Lord Husband is attacked. I would be safer in mind and heart if I know that there were sure and strong swords around him, and while he is a noble knight worthy of his cloak, I can not call Ser Grandison either sure or stable."

"Ser Harlan?" The Grand Maester's brow wavered and Cersei know that she was dancing on rotting ice, every word must be just so and the right amount of pressure had to be placed or she would slip through and be dragged down into the darkness. "Ser Harlan is a noble knight, princess. Who has many great deeds of valour listed in the White Book-"

"All of which I do not deny, not for a moment." It had to seem that these words pain her to say, pained her to even think them. She could not seem too eager or all would be for not. "But he is an old man, tired and forgetful. Has he needed to prove his metal as of late? He needs hours to get up, he is old and done and can not protect us if need be. Rhaegar needs a strong sword."

"I...I understand your fear Princess, to be sure I do." The Grand Maester muttered as he played with the link of chains around his throat. "But I can not think of how to consul you on this matter, Kingsguards serve for life. That is indeed the nature of their vows, the nature of their duty often means that their lives are cut short but Ser Harlan has lived longer than most."

Cersei frowned heavily, she knew that this was to be the hardest challenge. "I am aware of the nature of the Kingsguard vows, Ser Harlan drifts closer and closer to the arms of the stranger with each and every day that passes." Cersei stood from her chair and walked around the table, taking the Grand Maester's wrinkled hands in hers. "Is there naught we can do to...speed his passage?"

The old man's eyes grew even wider and for a moment, Cersei thought that she had shocked him into having a heart attack. She could almost laugh at the absurdity of it, in trying to kill one old man she had accidently killed another. His mouth quiver for a few moments and when he did speak, it came out as a hushed whisper. "Princess, such a suggestion is shocking and wicked. Perhaps the babe is affecting your humours in such a way that such an idea seems sensible to you but I-"

Cersei slapped him then and there, the heavy sound of her hand colliding with his face was a sweet one and Pycelle stared up at her with his mouth open and quivering as her red hand print burned against his skin. "Now listen to me, you old fool. I am not asking you to give me something that will make him cough up his lung in front of all the court. Simply something that will make him drift away to sleep, as old men do from time to time."

Under the thick cloud of his beard, Cersei saw the old man's chin wobble. "Princess, he is a kingsguard."

"Yes, and have you considered the Kingsguard's loyalties? Who is loyal to the king and who is loyal to the prince? A new sword is needed, a strong sword, a Lannister sword." That reached him, the Maester grew quite for a time but he eventually stood up and walked over to a large cabinet and rooting through it before returning to her side with a red pouch with golden string holding it closed.

Cersei opened the pouch and stared down at the fine yellow power inside for a few moments before she looked back up at Pycelle for an explanation. "Sweetsleep, Princess. Used to calm a pounding heart and bring deep and dreamless sleep. Alas, it does not leave the flesh and builds up as it were. A pinch or so in a cup of wine, every night for a fortnight should bring the desired affect."

Cersei smiled brightly as she bound the bag back up again as slipped it up her sleeve. "Thank you Grand Maester, most helpful." She walked back over to the door but turned back to him before she left. "Oh Grand Maester? Best not let this spread any further than us, I should so hate for you to have a deep and sweet sleep."

She strode out of the chamber and Ser Arthur followed her all the way back to her chambers, she stared at the pouch as she laid in bed and wondered how she would get the old man to drink it in over a fortnight. She couldn't very well put it in his wine herself, that would make her too suspect to the matter and all would be lost to her.

And then just like that, it struck her like a thunderbolt. It would be perfect, she placed the pouch in her bedside table and would see to ensuring it was placed in Ser Harlan's wine from now on. Soon, there would be a spot on the kingsguard, Jaime would be clad all in shining white and all Lysa Tully would be left with would be bitter tears.

Cersei had no need for sweetsleep to drift off that night, nor would she want it as she felt into a sweet dream of Jaime in his armour, her husband as beautiful as any man could hope to be and a dozen children at her feet. Elia Martell was drab in a dress made of wool and the colour of sheep dung, tears welling in her big black eyes and running down her brown cheeks while Eddard Stark stood at her side, a firm hand kept wrapt around her arm.

Tyrion was nowhere to be seen and her Father stood there, a smile that she hadn't seen in so long on his face and he and Cersei's Aunt and Uncles knelt before her.

And all through her dream, Cersei sat the Iron Throne, high above them all.

End of Chapter Forty-Eight.

* * *

 **Please review, follow and favourite if you enjoyed this chapter and please give constructive criticism.**

 **I've said it before, and I will say it again. There are few characters in this series who are as fun to write as Cersei, I was originally going to revel how she planned to poison Ser Harlan but I am going to leave it open for now and spread some clues through other character's POVs.**

 **With Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	49. Chapter 49

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Forty **-** Nine

Elia held her breath and kept her hands clasped tight in front of her as she watched Mors crawl on the rushes of the Nursery, she knew that she shouldn't be so anxious as it wasn't as if the boy was walking yet but she had tales of babes crawling out of windows or bashing their tiny skulls open on table legs when their mothers or their septas or their nursemaids hadn't been watching them.

She had moved the cribs and the dresser and the small table and the chest full of clothes to the side of the room so that if one of her babes did make their way towards one of them then she would have enough time to pick one of them up and move then away before they hurt themselves. Thankfully, Mors seemed to have contented himself with crawling in a circle for the moment.

His brother was less active, content with staying in his Father's arms Torrhen's eyes were sliding shut as he tried to keep himself awake so he could continue to watch his brother as he crawled around the rushes. His tiny body looked even smaller than normal in Ned's arms, her husband rubbing at his back to try and coax him to fall into the realm of dreams and it seemed as though their son was fighting a losing battle on that front.

Ned caught her staring and offered her a smile that she was quick to return, ever since their reconciliation they had found that they would often fall into these comfortable silences. They didn't need any words between them when they were alone together, which Elia would admit still wasn't as much as she would actually want due to their respective duties often taking up a great deal of their time.

Their duties were heavier than they would normally be due to Lord Rickard still as of yet had not return to Winterfell from whatever land and duty had so urgently demanded his attention elsewhere. Elia couldn't deny that she was worried for her goodfather, no word had reached them of his whereabouts or his well being. He should have been with a party of guards, they should have insisted on sending some with him but he had not waiting for anything.

As far as the rest of the North was concerned, Lord Rickard had still not recovered from the attack and was confined in White Harbor, not long ago there had been a rider from the port had arrived with a message from Lord Wyman saying that he was beginning to grow concerned, he was more than happy to keep up with the lie as it were but he had been receiving missives from various lords asking about Lord Rickard and his condition and if they could perhaps come and visit him, to offer their well wishes.

It was not as though Lord Wyman could deny any of them, lest he think that he had done something untoward to him. He had even sent a rider instead of a bird as it was less likely to be intercepted or lost. It was a hard place to be stuck with but none of them knew what they could say to him, they had all assumed that Lord Rickard would be back by now and they had to assume that he had thought that he would be back by now as well.

Wyman had not responded to any of the messages sent to him and had been hoping that the other lords had assume that the birds they had sent to White Harbour had been lost on the way to the city but sooner or later, the lords of the North would arrive in his city demanding to see Lord Rickard and he had little idea what to do if that day should come soon.

Since the letter had come Elia had been praying to the Seven every night for Lord Rickard to return, in lieu of anything that she might do practically to find him. She had written to Doran and two letters arrived from Dorne in response, Doran's had informed her that Lord Rickard had not been seen in Dorne but that he had sent in his men to the Shadow City and Planky Town to hear if there had been any word of new northmen in Dorne, as they were not at all a common sight.

Oberyn's letter had been a surprise, thought not an unwelcome one. He had no news of Lord Rickard either but he did give her news on her nieces, which while not particularly useful was more than welcome. Obara had made great progress with her spear and had chosen to pair it with a whip and a pair of daggers alongside a steel and copper shield, at least twice she had come close to beating him in a sparring match but he had decided not to tell her that as he wanted to give her something to work harder for.

Nymeria had also taken to using a whip alongside the dozen daggers that she had learned to hide on her person, when Elia had first heard about that specific talent of her niece she had been worried quite a bit as it seemed like quite an easy way to cut oneself but Oberyn had reassured her that he had taught Nymeria well and that an extra blade could always make the difference in a fight.

She had also taken to traveling on her own into the Shadow City, paying custom to various dressmakers and buying flatbreads, spicy and roaring hot from the ovens. Oberyn had wrote that on the night before he had started writing the letter, Nym had asked if she might go and ride along the greenblood and spend a few weeks with the Orphans and Oberyn apparently had half a mind to let her do so.

Tyene was becoming more active and her brother believed that the time was coming for him to start training her with a weapon, though he was not sure with what yet. Elia was glad of that as she the thought of tiny Tyene holding a weapon shot a cold arrow of dread into her heart. Tyene was a sweet girl, gentle and kind. Not like her sisters in that way. Elia just couldn't see her fighting a battle, or killing someone.

The rest of the letter had been about other events in Dorne, the heir to Godsgrace had recognised his bastard child, Lord Harmen Uller had taken a new paramour, Lord Fowler had celebrated the birth of his two children, twin girls and thus giving him an heir and a spare all at once. Dorne continued on and apparently their brother worried and fretted over every tiny detail, whether it was under his control or not. Which certainly sounded a lot like Doran.

The letter had been ended with words of congratulations on the birth of the twins and an invitation to come back to Dorne so that her brothers could meet their nephews and she couldn't deny, it was a sweet thought. Sadly, however. She knew that it was a thought that would have to keep for a time, at the least. It hadn't been that long ago since she had come back to the North after being apart from Ned for so long, she couldn't ask him to leave the North again after the last time they went south it had ended so badly for them.

Perhaps in a few years, when their sons were older and would be able to remember it better then they would go down to Dorne, they could take ship from White Harbour and avoid the mainland all together, avoid King's Landing all together. Till the day, she would just hold the letter close to her heart and promised herself that she would go back to Dorne one day.

A whimper of distress pushed all her concerns and her worries to the back of her mind, at first she thought that it was Mors who was whimpering but he was still happily crawling along the rug without a care in the world. No, the whimper which broke her heart into tiny pieces was coming from his brother who Ned was bouncing slightly to try and soothe but it didn't seem to be doing a great deal of good.

Elia smiled slightly and picked Mors up, ignoring the whimper of protest, and carried him over to his crib. Once her son was settled she walked over to her husband and took Torrhen from his arms. The air held no foul smell and the back of a hand pressed to chubby cheeks detected no heat brewing under the skin so it did not seem like a fever was the issue and thus Elia was left with the only likely outcome.

She took her son with a smile and began to feed him, humming a song under her breath as she did so. A hand rested on her cheek, making her look up and her eyes meet with grey eyes, like as fine as mist. She smiled and leaned forward as Ned leaned down and their lips met in the middle, a warmth flooding through her and settling in her chest.

Once Torrhen had drunken his fill and had been settled in his crib besides his brother, they found themselves sitting on the large padded long bench, Elia half in Ned's lap as they watched the fire lazily burning in the heath. The nursery was one of the warmest rooms in the entire castle but the day had been a cold one and she didn't want either of the children to become sick and thus she had ordered one be built.

It was uncomfortable for Ned, her husband preferred it to be colder, she knew that and often she had offered him the chance to leave but he had made no acknowledgement of those chances and simply stayed with them for longer. But she was a princess of Dorne and the heat was welcome to her and indeed it was nothing compared to her a warm day in Dorne itself.

She was fairly certain that she had been about to fall asleep with her head on Ned's shoulder when there was a sudden, sharp tapping on the door. Elia moved away from Ned all through she did let out a small, frustrated moan as her husband stood up and walked over to the door, pulling it open. Elia was still drifiting and was closer to sleep than she was to being awake so she hadn't heard anything that had been said and she was brought back to the world of waking by Ned's hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her. "Elia, wake up. You need to come. It's my father."

The words nearly snapped her back into the waking world so quickly that for a moment Elia didn't recognise where she was or what she had been doing but the confusion had only lasted for a moment before what Ned had told her actually managed to sink in. She almost jumped up from where she had been seating as she stared at husband. "I'm sorry?"

"It's my father, he's here. He just turned up a few moments ago." Ned seemed as surprised as she felt, relived as she felt but still as surprised. Neither of them had expected Lord Rickard to appear today, they hadn't expected him to appear at all. A thousand and one questions buzzed inside her mind like a nest of rabid hornets and once she had sorted through them as best as she could, she found that she had another thousand to ask.

And yet she got the feeling that she wasn't going to get a thousand answers. She squared her shoulders and gave Ned what she hoped was a comforting smile as she reached down and took his hand. "Well then, we had best go and welcome home, mustn't we?"

Ned nodded and lead her over to the door, the Stark guardsman was waiting for them on the outside and he began to lead them through the corridors and out through the courtyard towards the great hall. As they made their way to the Great Hall Elia caught sight of Hodor leading a fine grey steed over to the stables and Elia knew that it was her goodfather's personal horse and that he had truly returned to them.

As they walked into the great hall the first thing that Elia caught sight of was Lord Rickard standing as tall as a king, his arms wrapped around Lyanna as though he hadn't seen her in a dozen years. It had felt longer than it had been, in her mind Elia knew that it could really only have been a single moon or so since he had actually left the North but it had felt far longer than that to the people of Winterfell.

Lyanna let go of her father and Elia saw that her eyes and her cheeks were wet with tears, Benjen came rushing in from the Lord's door with Brandon and Catelyn behind him, the youngest of the Starks threw his arms around his father's middle and held to him so tightly, as if terrified that if he let go then his father might disappear again. The sight broke her heart.

Brandon and Cat approached from the side just as Elia and Ned approached the dais from the front and ascended the steps to stand on the platform. As she got closer to her goodfather Elia noticed that he seemed quite tired, far more tired than he had been when he had left and she was sure that she noticed a few strands of silver running through his brown hair and extra lines on his face, wherever he had been and whatever he had done, it had aged him.

"Father." Ned spoke with a smile on his face, he stepped away from Elia and threw his arms around his father at the same time Brandon did, Benjen was hidden behind his brothers and Elia was fairly sure that he was being as crushed as his father was at the moment. Elia caught sight of Cat who was smiling at the reunion and went to stand by her, a smile on her own face as she did so. "I am glad you returned unharmed."

Lord Rickard returned the smile and patted his younger son on the shoulder. "And I am glad to be back in the North again, I trust that none of you spoke the truth of where I truly was?" He asked and then nodded satisfied when they all answered in the negative. "Good, now I am sure that you all have questions that you need to ask me and I understand that but I am tired and at the moment all I want is a bath, a roast bird and a feather bed. We can speak later in the evening. Lya, can you please send Maester Walys to come and attend me? There are things that must be discussed."

Lyanna nodded and with that, Lord Rickard left the hall through the Lord's door like he hadn't been there to start with. Lyanna glanced at her brothers and shrugged her shoulders before she went off to find the Maester, Benjen looked disappointed for a few moments before he began to walk towards the direction of the Yard. Soon it was only Brandon, Ned, Elia and Cat left in the hall.

"Well, it's good to know that's he still the same." Brandon muttered as he rubbed at the back of his neck, Ned frowned slightly which made his older brother let out a groan. "Oh Ned, loosen bloody up. How you can even have a shit sometimes? It was a joke, I'm as glad as you are that Father's fine but that doesn't mean that I don't get tired when he decides to not tell us anything."

Ned frowned and while Elia couldn't know what he was thinking she had something of an idea, she had to assume that it was close to what she was thinking herself. For as long as her goodfather had been away she knew there had been speculation as to what he had been doing among all those who knew the truth that he had no longer been in the North. Which had only included herself, Ned, Brandon, Cat, Lyanna, Benjen, Ashara and the Maester.

Brandon had thought that he had decided to abandon his place as the Lord of Winterfell and retire to a free city, to spend the rest of his life somewhere warm without telling them, Cat had not agreed with that, not thinking that Lord Rickard would be a man who would abadon his family. She had in fact suggested that he had gone to find a match in the south and had kept it a secret as so not to offend the Northern lords. Benjen had suggested that he might have gone over to Essos but to stay, instead he had gone to find hidden dragon eggs which only his father know where they were and was going to come back with dragons for all of them, Lyanna didn't much care where her father had gone and only wanted to make sure that he was actually coming back.

Ashara did know that he was no longer in the North but she hadn't been one for speculating the past few months, she had fallen into a grim mood and not even Lauryn seemed to be enough to bring a smile on to her face anymore which did little to make the child happy. Ashara had been drifting about the castle as though she were a ghost, her hands drifting over her stomach as she walked.

She knew what it meant, but she had hoped that Brandon wouldn't have done it now that he had been wed to Catelyn. That had clearly been a mistake on her part but Brandon didn't seem to be neglecting Cat's bed either, the brightness around the other woman as of late and the slight swelling of her belly was clearly evidence enough of that. Elia didn't understand how two men could be so very different from one another, she knew that Ned would never be like this. Had it been Jon Arryn alone who had made the Ned that she had always known, the honourable man that she had grown to love so very easily.

Still, she had not said anything to Ned about it yet. Men did not have an eye for such a thing and Ashara was still in very early days yet and she had taken to wearing thicker clothes as of late, it had grown colder as of late and many in Winterfell had taken to wearing warmer clothing as of late even in the warmest parts of the castle. She had even heard one of the maids who worked in the kitchens speaking of how there would be no chance of any harvest now until spring came.

Old Nan had said that she didn't think that the season was going to be much further away now, she had lived through half a hundred winters and in most of them before they ended there was always a sharp burst of cold before they winters snows gave way to the spring breeze. But Elia had a feeling that the sharp cold would continue to persist inside the walls of the castle even when the winds of spring warmed the land outside. Elia didn't know how long she would be able to keep it a secret, eventually Ashara's condition would be found out and then all seven hells would break loose inside the walls.

And she was terrified, terrified of what would happen to Ashara when others did find out, she already had one bastard but no one aside from herself and Ashara knew about the one growing in her belly. Cat would know soon enough and while she wouldn't be rude enough to say anything about it out loud, she would start to wonder who the father was and if the babe came out looking more like a Stark...

It was exhausting having to deal with all of this, when one problem was over it seemed as though another popped up to replace it. It made her tired, sometimes she considered just ignoring it and focusing on Ned and her sons and letting everything else sort itself out. But she knew that she couldn't do that, Ashara meant too much to her, Lauryn meant too much to her and the babe that was growing inside of her meant something as well.

It might have been time for Ashara to return to Dorne, she would miss her more than anything in the world but Ashara hadn't been happy in Winterfell for awhile, going back to Dorne might have been best for her now. Ashara loved Starfall more than anywhere else in the world and her family would take her back in within open arms, though any chance of her being married now was lost somewhat. Even in Dorne, a woman having two bastards of her own would dampen her chances of a decent marriage.

But sending her back there would keep her away from Brandon, Ashara wouldn't be tempted, Brandon wouldn't be able to break his vows with her friend and Catelyn would never need to know the truth. Doran could prove a wrinkle in those plans, he had been the one who commanded Ashara to come with her and serve as her lady but if Elia said that she didn't want Ashara serving her anymore than that would be the end of it.

Still, she would have to ask her friend exactly what she wanted to do, though a part of Elia, all though she would always miss her, wished that Ashara did agree to go back to Dorne, just to make everything that little bit more simpler. But in the end Elia would listen to what Ashara choose to do, her friend had never been someone to like it when decisions were made for her and that had been something that they always had in common.

Ned still frowned heavily as he crossed his arms over his chest, staring firmly at his older brother. "I grow tired of it as well, but I also grow tired of you making a joke out of every single thing that ever happens. You're going to be Lord of Winterfell and Lord Paramount of the North one day and more than likely the Warden of the North. You have to grow up at some point."

Brandon's eyes narrowed but he said nothing, he just pushed past his brother and stormed out of the hall. Catelyn's hands came down to hover over her stomach for a moment before she offered them an apologetic smile, the lady then made her excuses and followed after her husband leaving Ned and Elia alone for the time being. The hall suddenly seeming darker, colder.

But when Ned turned to smile at her, the cold did not seem as present as it had. "I think I shall go to the godswood, to give thanks to the gods for bringing Father back safely. Would you like me to escort you back to the nursery first?"

"I thought that I might accompany you to the godswood, I will not disturb your prayers of course." Ned didn't frown at her words, not exactly. But he did seem at loss for a moment before he found the words to speak.

"If that is what you wish to do my Lady, but it is quite cold this day."

"I have a thick fur, I shall be well. And in truth, I should like some peace and quiet in which to think and the few times I have been there I have found no place in Winterfell to be more peaceful." Or more disturbing, in it's way. There was always the sense that someone didn't want her there, but the Seven hadn't offer her any answers or any peace, perhaps the gods of the south could not reach them here. "Of course, if you would prefer some time alone my love then I understand."

"No, no of course not. If you wish to come with me then I would be glad of your company." Ned reached out to take her hand and Elia smiled as she felt the warmth under his skin enveloping her smaller hand. How had she ever thought that he was a cold man? How had that ever been a fear that she had? A man who filled her with nothing but warmth now.

They walked out through the courtyard and through the gate into the godswood and soon enough found themselves in front of the heart tree, Ned knelt in front of it and Elia took a set on a fallen tree trunk next to the steaming black pool. A cold wind blew through the godswood and caused her bones to shake and her teeth to chatter and for a moment she thought of taking her shoes of and dipping them into the steaming water but she decided against, Ned might not complain but she had the feeling that the Old Gods would not thank her for it.

They sat together in silence, Ned's head bowed in prayer for what seemed like an eternity and a second all at once, the sky had darkened to purple and large black clouds were looming overhead. As cold at the North in winter was in the daytime, it was nothing compared to when the sun went down. Elia stood from the trunk that had fallen and walked over to where her husband was kneeling and offered him her hand, Ned looked up at her for a moment before he took her hand and rose from the floor, brown snow clinging to his knees.

Once they had returned to the Nursery Elia dismissed the wetnurse and the maid and once she was certain that both of the babes were asleep she turned to face Ned. "I need to ask you something, do you promise me that you won't be upset with me for asking?" She waited for Ned to nod, ignoring the heavy frown the accompanied it.

"Your father, do you think he might have gone north to make an alliance with someone, not a marriage alliance but you told me that he hasn't forgotten what the King had done." The thought of a war had terrified her, it had been the threat of the King's rage and the defence that the other kingdoms would give him and his house that had convinced Lord Tywin to free her from Casterly Rock but it had only been that, a threat, one she meant to carry out but she had been freed, it was done, in the past. She had not nor would she ever forgive the King for what he had done, but she wanted it to be brought to an end. The North was far away from King's Landing and large besides, Ned had told her that Moat Cailin when garrisoned could hold back an army of twenty thousand with only a hundred men.

The King may have been mad but only a true and utter fool would ignore all of that, of course there had been no word from the capital demanding that she be returned back to her captivity at Casterly Rock or that news her "Betrothal" had reached the kings ears, perhaps the Spider hadn't found out, perhaps his little birds were not so far spread as he liked to pretend. Perhaps she was worried for nothing, it might not come to it.

And yet at the same time, it might. Men could be the greatest of fools when it came to such things, they claimed to fight for family and for honour and yet they left their family to bleed for it. At times, she simply could not understand them. And there would be blood, the realm would bleed if the North and Dorne rose up against the Targaryens, even families could find themselves fighting amongst one another, torn apart by oaths.

Ned seemed confused for a moment but only for a moment as his hand came up to brush over his face, he sunk down on to padded bench for a moment before he looked back up at her. "Perhaps, Benjen is unmarried. Perhaps he wants to wed him to a girl from the Vale, a Royce perhaps, or maybe a Waynwood. Jon Arryn loves me well but as for the rest of the Vale, it's the only Kingdom in this little pact of my Father's that hasn't gotten a marriage in their somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me."

Her husband then let out a small laugh when he saw the dumbfounded look on her face, though there was a hint of weariness to the laughter to be sure. "I am not so much a dunderhead when it comes to matters such as these as most would like to think, what else would my father be planning? Why would Rhaegar Targaryen give us that message if not for the support that my Father has?"

Elia wasn't ashamed to admit that had not occurred to her before now, it seemed so much like a different world now that she had almost forgotten that the bloody letter had existed in the first place. If she closed her eyes than she could almost see both of the letters burning as she feed them both to the flames, only herself knowing what was in them, and her husband and her brother once she had recounted their contents to them.

Now more than ever she wanted to know what Doran was doing, as much as she ever could understand Doran. Oberyn had once jested that the mazemakers of old must have had a hand in constructing their brother's mind and how he thought. Elia was not stupid and yet Doran had always been able to out think her, when he had visited them while he had been at Salt Shore as a squire he had always come with a new riddle for her to figure out and often it would take her weeks to puzzle it out.

She knew that Oberyn would fight a war willingly enough but would Doran call the banners to go to it? She honestly couldn't tell with him at times, if the rest of the people Lord Stark had reached out to also went to war against the king. Honour would bound him to rise with them, but oaths would command him to fight for the king.

"Rhaegar reached out to the Lannisters, perhaps he went to Casterly Rock? Lord Tywin and the king are not on the best of terms." If Elia was the Lord of Casterly Rock than she imagined that she would support the side with the larger numbers, thought admittedly her knowledge of military matters was not the most comprehensive but what she did know was that the Lannisters could mass multiple large hosts in numbers no other, except the Reach, could match. Considering the quality of the equipment that their gold could buy and the amount of gold they had, a winning side that had the Lannisters on their side would have victory almost assured.

And a losing side would at least have a fighting chance.

"Perhaps, but Lord Tywin has no other daughters other than Princess Cersei. And from what I have heard of him, I don't think he would consent to marrying one of his daughters to a third born son." Ned frowned slightly at his own words and Elia knew why, Benjen was a good little man but his position meant that he wasn't likely to have a bountiful match. "Who knows, who can truly know anything? Perhaps nothing will come off this, perhaps the King will stabilise. He may fall ill and Prince Rhaegar will take the crown."

"And the next summer may be the eternal one, and we need never worry about the chill of Winter again after this one." Elia chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before she shook her head. "And yet, I doubt it. The king's mind is falling him, and he eats little and less and yet he seems determined to cling on to his life for the nonce. Perhaps simply to spite us if nothing else."

"Perhaps." Ned said before he walked over to her and pulled her into his arms, gently rubbing at her back. Elia let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes as she sunk into the embrace, letting everything be forgotten. War, the cold, death and suffering. For the moment it was all outside the walls and she would be content enough to leave it there. There were something's that simply could not be controlled, if war came then it would come. All she could hope for was that it would not.

Elia wasn't sure how long they stood there, embracing one another but another knock at the door broke them apart. Ned pulled away from her reluctantly and opened the door, a servant girl with mud brown hair and dress in a simple and roughspun brown dress was standing there. "Begging your pardons m'lord, m'lady. Lord Rickard would like to inform you that he intends to have dinner in his private room tonight and he would like you to attend him."

"Thank you Maisie, tell him that we will be there." The girl nodded and Ned shut the door before he turned to face her. "Well, we might get some answers at least."

"But do not hold your breath." Elia said dryly and Ned let out a small laugh, Elia turned to check on the children for a moment to make sure that they were both well before she turned back to her husband and walked over to him. "I think I will try and find Ashara, then I will be in our room to change."

"Very well my Lady, I intend to do some sparing in the yard. I shall see you tonight." Ned pressed a kiss to her cheek and left her side while Elia went to see if she could find her friend, alas it seemed that no matter where she looked she couldn't find her. Lauryn was in her room but with only a nursemaid for company and no sign of her lady mother, the older woman had gone so far as to tell her that Ashara hadn't been to see her in days.

A chill of worry wormed up at her spine at that but she did her best to not let it show, putting a warm smile on her face as she knelt down next to Lauryn to play with her for a time. Moving the wooden carving of a wolf to wrap it's maw around one of the many limbs of a great wooden kraken, painted in gold and black. She stayed with the girl until she fell asleep and once she had settled her she told the nursemaid to come and find her if Ashara came into the room at all.

She had a horrible feeling that she knew where Ashara was, though she prayed that she was wrong. With every step she took towards her destination, her stomach seemed to tighten more and more. She arrived outside Brandon's room just in time to see the door open and Ashara step out in the hallway, her lovely violet eyes widened when she saw Elia but then they fell shut. "I'm sorry."

"If you're going to apologise, I am the last person it should be too." Elia ran her fingers through her hair, trying to resist the urge to rip it out. She had always thought that Ashara would be smarter than this. Of course, only the people you loved the most could be the ones to disappoint you. "You could apologise to Catelyn, seeing as your sleeping with her husband. Or maybe you should apologise to Lauryn, seeing as you are basically ignoring her."

Ashara's jaw dropped open and she tried to speak but all that came out was a noise that sounded like a mix between a sob and a whine, her hand coming up to wipe her tears away. "I know, I know. I love him Elia, I really, truly do. But every time I am with him I feel so guilty, and when I try and spend time with Lauryn, I'm reminded how I made her. Guilt's a harsh companion."

Elia wanted to reach out and hold her, to tell her that everything would be alright but she steeled herself against that. Everything was not all right and nothing would be all right unless she was able to do something and soon. She let out a deep sigh before she spoke again, hardening herself for what she was about to do. "Listen to me, clearly you are...infatuated with Brandon. If you can't stay with him, then you can remove yourself. Go back to Starfall and take Lauryn with you."

Ashara stared at her for a moment, as if she didn't recognise her before what she said actually sunk in. Tears fell silently down her face for half a heartbeat before she bent her head. "Are you dismissing me from your service, my Lady?"

Elia bit her lip before she answered. "No, I am not. I am giving you a chance, a choice. If you want to go back to Starfall than you have that choice, I can't make it for you."

Ashara wiped her tears after a moment before she spoke. "I will consider it my Lady, is there anything else?"

Elia stared at Ashara, the closest she had ever had to an actual sister before she spoke again. "Go and see your daughter Lauryn, and I would consider it a favour to me if you stayed with her tonight." Ashara said nothing but simply nodded and walked past her, Elia reaching up to cover her own eyes once she had gone. After a few moments she took a deep breath and began to make her way to Ned's room.

Her husband's room was always one of the coldest in all of Winterfell and it seemed even Ned was feeling it as of late as a fire was blazing away in the heath, Elia sat in the chair that had been placed next to it and shut her eyes, trying to focus on calming herself. Everything seemed so hard as of late and she had to wonder if she had overstepped, if she had lost Ashara.

If that was true, then she had lost a part of herself.

She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there, only the sound of the fire crackling in the heath as company, before the door opened and her husband's voice filled her ears. "Elia, it's time to go. Did you find Ashara?" He asked gently as Elia watched him knell next to her.

"Yes, she's with Lauryn." It wasn't a lie, she could say that much. She stood up from the chair and realised that she would have to change, she walked over to the trunk that she had moved into Ned's room a short while before they had left Winterfell for that first time. She opened the trunk and picked up a dress of black silk with orange sleeves and laid it down on the bed.

From behind her she heard Ned began to undress as she undressed herself, pulling on the new one and tried to reach behind to button up her dress but her fingers came just short enough to brush the strings at the back. "Ned, I don't want to disturb Ashara and I don't want to walk through the castle with my bare back on display. Would you mind tying it up?"

Her husband didn't make a reply but she soon felt his fingers at her back, brushing over her skin as he tied her dress into place. Elia's eyes slid shut and all her tears and fears faded away when she felt Ned's lips at her neck. "Do you really want us to be late for this? Considering it is your father's first dinner since he returned from the south after all."

"Could we not speak of my father for the moment my lady?" Ned whispered into her ear, his hot breath making her shiver as his arms came to wrap around her middle. "But alas, you're right. We shouldn't be late, but I do promise you my lady, it will be something worth waiting for." The heat in his words made her legs weak and she was certain that if it wasn't for his arms then she would fall to the ground.

Ned released his hold and offered her his arm and Elia took it as soon as it was offered, the walked through the long, cold grey corridors of Winterfell until they finally arrived in the Lord's private dining chamber, a guardsman standing at the door opened it for them and the long table beyond was covered with a long white table cloth, an ivory candlestick holder placed in the middle of it, four beeswax candles burning brightly in their holders.

Lord Rickard was sitting at the head of the table and in that moment Elia remembered that last time that she had seen him in this room, the same night that he had his heart attack. The thought of that happening again suddenly robbed her of her appetite, the master had said that he had been recovering but he had also not sanctioned him leaving Winterfell and he had only just returned, none of them truly knew what condition that he was in.

It seemed as though they were the last to arrive, Lyanna was sitting at her father's right, dressed in white with blue frills at the sleeves. A necklace of sapphires glinted at her pale neck from the light of the candles, Benjen was sitting across from her and dressed in a grey doublet with a silver wolf's head brooch over his breast.

Brandon was sitting in between his sister and his wife, holding her hand like he hadn't just been fucking Elia's best friend. Elia wanted to take one of the glasses on the table and smash it full in his face but she held herself back. Cat looked as beautiful as ever, her hair had been placed into a long braid with blue wildflowers woven through the braid and filling the air with sweetness.

Ned and Elia took their places, sitting next to Benjen. As soon as they had sat down serving men came forth and filled their glasses with a golden wine that could only have come from the Arbour, she knew that there were some Arbour Golds in the cellars of Winterfell but they were few and far compared to the hundreds and hundreds of barrels of ale. Of course, the return of Lord Rickard was a special enough occasion that she supposed it called for the wine.

As soon as their glasses were full, the first meal came out and was placed in front of them. A leak and cabbage and onion soup with two crusty black bread rolls to dip into it. Once the serving men left Lord Rickard reached out and picked up his glass and took a sip of his wine before he spoke. "Now, I imagine that you all have some questions for me, yes?."

"Oh, just a few." Brandon said mockingly before he rubbed his arm after Lyanna laid a heavy slap against his arm but he continued to speak. "Let's start with the most obvious one, where did you go? What took you so long to get back?"

"I went south."

"Oh south, well that just clears everything up." Brandon replied with a roll of his eyes before he spoke again. "You went south, it's not like every inch of land from the end of the Neck down all the way to the Broken Arm of Dorne could be considered the south? Father, do you think that I could trouble you to be the tiniest bit more specific?"

"You wanted an answer and I gave you one, if you are unsatisfied with it then I am sorry but that is the only answer that I am prepared to give for the moment. I am returned and all is well for the nonce, let us not worry about the past any more than is needed." Rickard tore one his bread rolls in half and dipped one of the halves in to the soup and popped it in to his mouth, chewing and swallowing before he spoke again. "I want to know what has been happening in the North since I've been gone."

"Not much." Brandon muttered as he stared sullenly down at his soup before Lyanna elbowed him again.

"What Brandon means is that nothing much has happened that's worthy of your attention Father, but Lord Wyman was growing concerned with how long you were away and he was worried that many lords were going to go to White Harbour demanding to see you." Lyanna spoke and Lord Rickard nodded for a moment before he took another sip of his wine.

"I am aware of that sweetling, the Maester was quite able informing me of all that has occurred." If that was true than Elia wasn't sure why he wanted to hear from their mouths what had been happening in his absence. "I've spent the day since I arrived back in Winterfell writing letters to all the houses of note, informing them my rest in White Harbour has returned a great deal of strength to me and I have returned to Winterfell to take up my duties as Lord once again."

"At any rate, as I have returned I think it time for us to speak on your future, all of your future's." Rickard turned to face Lyanna and stared her with his lordly mask completely replacing the one of her father. "Lyanna, as soon as the worst of Winter has passed us by, I will be sending you south to Storm's End and you will marry Robert Baratheon, he has waited long enough I think."

Lyanna looked like she was about to scream for a moment, to fight and cry and protest as the unfairness of it all but it only lasted for a moment and Lyanna swallowed painfully and stiffly nodded her head. "Yes Father, as you say."

"Remember the words of our House Lyanna, Winter is coming, it is always coming even when it's here. You are a Stark and you must do your duty." Lord Rickard waited for his daughter to nod again before he turned his attention on to Benjen. "Ben, you're not a little boy anymore and soon enough you will be a man grown. With that in mind, I've decided that as soon as the winds warm once again that you will be fostered."

The look on the boy's face was enough to make Elia reach across and pull him into a hug but she knew that she couldn't and she shouldn't, Benjen was well past the age to be fostered. "But Father, I-I understand."

Lord Stark's face softened for a moment and when he spoke, his tone was noticeably more gentle. "It won't be as bad as all that Ben, you'll make friends and you'll grow to like it. I mean to foster you in the North, I was thinking of sending you to White Harbour? How does that sound."

To his credit, Benjen smiled bravely though it was a shade tremulous. Rickard nodded and then his attention turned to Brandon and Catalyn. "I will start by saying that I am the Lord of Winterfell and that won't change until I am in the ground, but I am getting older and the heart attack has left it's scars. I am going to need to lean on you, the both of you, from time to time. Brandon, you are going to be the Lord of Winterfell one day, no matter what happens. I need to know that I can depend on you."

Brandon said nothing, but he didn't need to as Catalyn spoke for him a smile on her face. "You can rely on us goodfather, I promise you that."

Rickard nodded but his eyes were still locked on Brandon. "I am glad to here that indeed, the time comes for childhood and childish things to be put away. And Winter is also a time for leanness, greed has no place in the North in times such as these."

In that moment Elia knew that her goodfather knew, he had too. She glanced at Ned and by the frown on his face she knew that he knew that his father knew as well but it was the look on Brandon's face that made it clear to her that he knew as well, all the arrogance had drained away and all that was left was fear, perhaps for the first time that Elia had seen such a look on his face.

If Catelyn knew what Lord Rickard was speaking of then she did her best not to show it, all she did was rest her hand on her belly and tightened her hold on Brandon's hand, meeting Lord Rickard's gaze fiercely.

Lord Rickard quickly broke his gaze and glanced back down at his bowl of soup. "So until Winter ends, I would say stop getting used to meals such as these. Soon enough it will be meals of salt pork and boiled peas." He took another spoonful of soup into his mouth before he used the over half of his bread roll to soak up more of the soup, once he had eaten he turned his gaze on to Ned and Elia and she knew it was there turn.

"Ned, you're a man grown yourself, you have a wife and you have children. I trust you, because of that I have seen fit to have construction begun on a small tower house. It won't be a grand thing but it will be dry enough, you will have a few tracts of land near the Stony Shore and your sons and grandsons will one day build a great castle of their own from that one little tower."

"Your honour me Father." Ned answered for them both but Elia did not feel honoured, she had grown used to Winterfell. With the hot springs and the pipes she could barely feel Winter's chill most days and on days like this she could have a fire built and wear extra furs over her clothes to make herself warmer but a tower house wouldn't have any of that and the Stony Shore would no doubt be freezing, she could already feel it sleeping into her bones.

It was almost as if Lord Rickard had heard her thoughts when he next spoke. "I don't mean for either of you to leave Winterfell yet, most of the building will not even be constructed until we enter the spring. But House Stark needs to grow and to spread and the two of you both have a part to play in that, I trust you understand." With that there was no more talk.

The rest of the dinner speed by quickly, Elia could not remember the other courses they had if she cared enough to try. Her head was filled with too much to think properly. They had found themselves back in Ned's room soon enough and he was on top of her, in her and it was as sweet as it always was but she found that she didn't enjoy it as much as she had, the night's events had spoiled it somewhat.

Once Ned had spilled in her he laid on his side and kissed her neck, love and concern in those soft grey eyes of his. "My lady, what's wrong?" He asked gently, his hand coming out to smooth down her curls. Every touch gentle, kindness radiating out of every pore.

She wanted to tell him nothing was wrong but she had already lied to him once this day, she didn't want to do it again. The truth was, everything seemed to be going wrong at the moment and she did not know who to tell, what to say, what to do. Doran would know, Oberyn would know as well. And in that moment, Elia Martell knew what she needed.

"There was a raven from Dorne, my Brother. Oberyn." She pointed out once she saw the look on Ned's face. "It was a personal letter, speaking of my nieces and news from Dorne itself and how they had heard about the boys birth, offering us our congratulations and...an invitation, to take the boys to Dorne to go and see them, to introduce them to the twins."

She already knew that she was fighting an uphill battle when she saw Ned stand up from the bed, walking to stand in front of the window, his naked back to her. Firm muscles under his skin painted by the orange light of the fire. "The last time we went south, you were stolen away by a Mad King's foolishness." His voice sounded heavy, conflicted.

Elia sat up in bed and pulled the furs closer to her, even with the fire it was still too cold in here. "My brothers are not the King, you've met Oberyn and I know for a fact you'll like Doran. I wouldn't ask but, it might be the last chance that I have to see Dorne. I would like you to see Dorne, I would consider it a favour to me my love and not one I'd forget."

Ned turned back to face her and walked back to the bed, he laid down and caught her lips in a kiss. He pulled back but he still held her face in his hands. "I'd prefer to ask my Father first, if he gives consent. Then I imagine that we could take a ship from White Harbour."

Elia smiled brightly and kissed Ned again, she knew it wasn't a yes but she knew that Ned wasn't against it. As for her goodfather, well, she imagined that Lord Rickard would be able to find a way to make a visit to Dorne advantageous. He seemed to have quite a talent at that.

And when Elia rested against her husband's chest, her eyes sliding shut, she dreamed of golden sands and blue seas.

End of Chapter Forty-Nine.

* * *

 **Another chapter done, next we will be going back to King's Landing for a Rhaegar chapter and after that to Dorne for a long awaited Ned chapter. Seeing as the North has most recently and often been seen through Elia's eyes it only made sense for Dorne to be seen through Ned's.**

 **With much love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	50. Chapter 50

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty

A thousand candles twinkled at the feet of the Mother and near as many as the feet of the Father, there were hundreds at the altar of the Smith, the Crone, The Warrior and the Maid and even now a hundred burned at the feet of the Stranger. Incense hung thick in the air, so sweet that it coated the back of his throat with every breath that Rhaegar took.

Ser Harlan Grandison almost looked handsome, grand in his scaled white armour as he lay on the bier. Death had robbed him of the last twenty years of age and for the first time, Rhaegar could say that he looked nearly young. Peaceful, he looked peaceful. He wondered if he would look like this when he died, he hoped that he would but some how he had doubted it.

The only other person in the sept at the moment was the Lord Commander of the King's Guard, who had taken it upon himself to stand the last vigil for the old knight. Ser Georld Hightower was resplendent in his white scale armour, a large white helm enclosed his head and he stood as still and silent as a statue. Rhaegar didn't have anything to say to him, he wouldn't disturb the peace that had fallen on to the sept.

His mother had come earlier with all her ladies in attendance and Viserys clutching at her skirts, they had each lit a candle and at laid them at the feet of the Mother's statue and all of them had knelt in prayer. The silk hoods that they wore shimmering in the candle light, their soft prayers almost sounding like a lullaby as a son was sung to sleep.

Many lords and ladies and knights had all come to pay their respects, even those who had never met the old man before. Even his father had come to the sept as well, for the first time in years actually coming out of the Red Keep. He had stayed in his litter all the way up to the door of Baelor's sept and had the rest of his kingsguard guarding it all the way.

And yet when he had seen the old man who had served his father for decades, the king looked even more fragile than usual. For a brief moment he thought that his Father might actually weep but as soon as it had appeared the madness clouded his face once again and glanced at every lord and lady in the sept, trying to find any enemies and not knowing that all he was doing was making them instead.

And yet now the septa was empty, only a few septons with censers were inside the sept along with Rhaegar and Ser Georld. Night had fallen on them and he knew that he should return to the Red Keep and yet he hadn't wanted to go back just yet. Ser Harlan had been dear to him as he had been growing and the man deserved as much respect as he could give.

It had been so sudden, everyone knew that Ser Harlan was an old man and wouldn't likely have been long for the world but how quickly he had slipped away had been odd. Arthur had spoken about how he had been falling asleep more and more often in meetings in the Sword Tower of the Red Keep and it often them to shaking him in his bed to get him to wake up until one day, they couldn't wake him no matter what they had tried. Rhaegar had to wonder if dying in his sleep would have pleased him, it was certainly peaceful but at the same time, a knight was meant to die fighting.

The found of footsteps entering the hall and approaching the bier made Rhaegar look up from Ser Harlan's face to see his lady wife approaching the bier, even when dressed in the colours of mourning Cersei was still stunningly beautiful, she wore a dress of black samite, only a few golden swirls on the sleeves were the only colour that she wore at the moment. Her golden curls framed her hair, being free of a hair net.

Her belly was alive with their child and the dress had to be taken out accordingly, she was so beautiful. She stood next to him and wrapped her hands around his arm and rest her head against his shoulder. "I was worried for you when you did not return with the others." Her voice was gentle, barely above a whisper as she looked down at the knight. "It saddens me that I missed the service, did the septon speak well?"

"Well enough, for a man who did not truly know him." The Septon had been dressed plainly, well, as plainly as a member of the Most Devout could. They had still not chosen a new High Septon as, according to Varys, they were terrified off offending the king. When Varys had told them that in the middle of the small council meeting, Rhaegar's royal father had only smiled.

It was still a matter of great concern, for so long as there was no High Septon then the Faith was technically leaderless. Leadership had fallen to the Most Devout in the High Septon's absence and they normally had an election among their own numbers to choose who would ascend to the position but apparently this election had been calmer than others, no one seemed willing to step into the robes that had caused the previous High Septon to be burned alive.

The thought of the stench of his roasting flesh was enough to make him feel ill so he resolved to shove the memory of it, and all the consequences that had risen with it, to the back of his mind for the moment before he pressed a kiss to the top of Cersei's head, his wife letting out a pleased little hum. "And you my love? Are you well now?"

The morning before they were to set out, an attack of violent sickness had stricken his lady wife and had forced her to be confined to her privy until the attack had cleared up. It was only when he thought of it that Rhaegar noticed that she was looking quite a bit paler than normal, at the time he had simply thought that it had been due to the black gown that she was wearing.

The memory of it seemed to displeased his wife as she frowned heavily and stiffened ever so slight. "A bit, Grand Maester Pycelle has been very helpful. He was a bit concerned, it's rare for sickness to strike this late but he claims that all will be well so long as I have a deal of bed rest." Cersei pulled away from him and walked to the top of the bier, so she could look down to Ser Harlan's face.

A look of contemplation appeared on her face as she stared down at him. "You know who I feel the most sorry for, at the moment?" She asked, not removing her gaze from the old knight's peaceful face.

"Who?"

"His squire." Cersei answered as she looked up at him, the lights of the candles caught her eyes and made the deep green pools glow. She stepped back towards him and reached down to take his hand, placing it on her belly. "What's his name my love? I cannot remember on the top of my head."

In truth, Rhaegar didn't know it either. He had seen the boy, though calling him a boy was something of a disservice as he was closer to twenty and thus older than a squire should be, about the Red Keep and King's Landing, often sent on some errand by Ser Harlan that was oft pointless as many of the men he had been sent to find had moved on from the city or had been dead for years.

The boy was short but stocky, dark hair framed a slightly pudgy face with droopy eyes which was oft bearded. It was odd how he could recall his features easily enough and yet the name seemed to have slipped from his memory. He turned to Ser Gerold. "Lord Commander, forgive me but do you know the name of Ser Harlan's squire?"

"Meryn, my Prince. His name is Meryn, of the House Trant." That was it, the voice of the Lord Commander being muffled by his helm gave his words an almost booming quality. "He has been serving, forgive me my Prince, he had been serving as Ser Harlan's squire since he was eight years old. He is past twenty now, as far as I am aware no squire in service to a Kingsguard knight has ever had to wait so long to be knighted himself."

"That is what I was thinking of, how sad it all was. This poor man has been in service to Ser Harlan for years, and I do not mean to speak ill of the poor dear man but we all know that squiring for him must have been difficult. And now he has lost his chance to be knighted. Who would take on a twenty year old squire?" His wife asked as her hand came up to cup Rhaegar's cheek, the feel of her gentle touch against his cheek light a fire in him. "The thought of it tears my gentle heart all to pieces, my love knight him. He may never get the chance to do so otherwise."

It was an odd request, some would even call it a daring one. Still others would call it rude and impertinent, Cersei was his lady wife and a princess and yet she would never be able to be a knight. She truly couldn't understand the duties and responsibilities that came with it. Yet others would call it inappropriate for the man to be knighted now since the knight he had been serving had only just died.

And yet the thought of it was sweet and she meant no harm and he imagined the squire must have been feeling terrible at the moment, when all that was considered it was hard to deny her and thus she granted the request with a smile. He would knight Meryn on the morrow and for the rest of time, he would always be known as Ser Meryn.

The smile she granted with him was one that could outshine the sun. "Thank you my lord." She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips before she pulled away. "I mean to return to the Red Keep. Will my lord accompany me?"

Rhaegar thought for a moment before he nodded and asked Cersei to wait in the litter for a moment, once his wife had left the sept he turned his attention back on to Ser Gerold. "Are you sure that you will be alright to continue the vigil for the rest of the day?"

Ser Gerold nodded and informed him that Ser Lewyn would be reliving him and taking over the vigil on the morrow. Rhaegar left the sept after lighting another candle at the feet of the Father and another at the feet of the Crone and saying a quick prayer to the both of them, hoping that the Father would judge that Ser Harlan deserved a place in the finest of the Seven Heavens and that the Crone would give him the wisdom to know what to do and what actions he should take in all the battles were to come.

Rhaegar soon found himself in his wife's litter and as they were on their way back to the Red Keep, a heavy rain began to fall down on to them. Rhaegar watched as the rain fell while Cersei was attending to some needlework. The prince allowed himself to enjoy a few moments of mindlessness before Cersei's voice brought him back to the moment. "I imagine that there will soon be a new White Sword to fill the place of the old."

Rhaegar frowned slightly as he contemplated that, it throw out a brand new set out outcomes. A new White brother could be blessing or a curse to him, most in the Seven Kingdoms knew what his father was so it was more than possible that he would be able to convince them to side with him when he had need of them but at the same time the sort of men who would swear the vows of the Kingsguard were those who wouldn't be easily swayed by the ways he would be able to sway most.

He had been able to convince Arthur Dayne and Lewyn Martell, neither of them were fond of the King after what he had done to Eila and her husband but they were also good men who had seen the horrors that his father had inflicted, and since he had been sent to Dragonstone with them he had been able to convince Ser Oswell to come over to his side as well, which he was more than pleased with as his family's seat of Harrenhal could come in handy.

But a new Kingsguard could complicate matters more than a slight bit, Rhaegar had no say or even influence in who was chosen and even if he did have some it was more than likely that his Father would just ignore all that he said as he more than often seemed to do. "I imagine that there will be yes, my Father will more than likely wait some time as to be respectful to Ser Harlan's passing and there are many worthy knights in the Seven Kingdoms, it will take even more time to decide who is worthy of the honour."

The answer seemed to satisify his lady wife as she returned to her needlework, a small smile playing on her lips. Rhaegar turned his attention back on to the rain as the litter made it's way back up to the Red Keep. It's walls darkened to the colour of blood.

End of Chapter Fifty.

* * *

 **This is a shorter chapter than normal but it's an important one, as it set's the stage for some future events that are to come. Next chapter we swap back to Ned' P.O.V in Dorne and I have to admit that I am really looking forward to writing a northman's perspective of the mouth southern kingdom.**

 **On another note, I would like to point out this if the fiftieth chapter that I have written for this story and I am very proud of that and I would like to thank everyone who has followed me, left a review and added this story to their favourites. I hope that you will countinue to enjoy the story as we go forward.**

 **With much love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	51. Chapter 51

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** One

The sun bearing down on him was relentless and at the moment, there was nothing that he wanted more than a skin full of cool water or even some sweet wine. The deck of the ship swayed slightly and the uneasy feeling it caused in his stomach made him want to run over to the side and release the contents of his stomach into the waiting waters below.

But Ned managed to keep control even as the sun continued it's assault on him and made his head feel light and made it hard to think, how any man could stand this relentless heat made no sense to him. Elia on the other hand seemed brighter than he had ever seen her, she had spent a great deal of time since they had taken ship from White Harbour out on the deck, more and more energetic as the air began to turn warmer and dryer.

In their cabin, she sung to their sons in a tongue that he did not recognise. Apparently it was an old Rhoynish river song that had been passed down from when Nymeria had begun her voyage to Dorne and it had been taught to Elia by a companion that she had at Sunspear when she had been a girl who had been an Orphan of the Greenblood, who were apparently some of the only Rhoynar in all of Dorne who had never wed with the Andals or the First Men.

The song itself had been sweet and sad, Elia had told him that it was about a young girl whose father and brothers had been killed during the Rhoynar defending themselves against the Valyrians and wondering what she would do now and what new land awaited for her as the ships sailed away from the Mother Rhoyne for the last time.

Speaking of the boys, for fairly young babes neither of them seemed to have much complaint against the heat as he did. It was clear to him that in this, they had taken after their mother. It shouldn't really have surprised Ned, considering how hot Elia often kept their nursery, they were used to almost constant heat. It did make him wonder somewhat how they, and Elia, would fair when they were placed inside a tower house on the Stony Shore.

It was a great honour, and Ned knew that he was a great deal luckier than most second sons, most would often just serve as knights in their elder brother's garrison and if they served well in time then perhaps they might be granted a few tracts of land to build their own tower, to have a tower built for you to start with was a great honour. Still, despite that luck it would not have the ability to pump heat through it's walls.

Before he had truly known Elia, before she had even come North, Ned remember how everyone used to speak of the poor fragile, delicate Dornish princess. Elia wasn't fragile, he was one of the strongest women that he had ever known. Not a man's strength at arms perhaps, though now that such a great deal of time had passed since and so much had happened he could look back at the memory of his tiny wife beating his sister in a sword fight with good humor, but she was strong in a different way. A way he didn't think that he could be.

But at the same time, he had seen the signs of her illness. She had told him herself that when she had been a girl her sickness had been often times been so great that she was forced to stay away from the rest of the children and be confined to her room by the maester who served House Martell until she regained her strength which often took between days and weeks for her to fully recover.

For as long as she had been in the North, the worst Ned had ever seen her was after her fight with Lyanna and she had fainted. Ned remembered how angry he had been at Lyanna at the time, how terrified he had been for his lady wife and that was also when he realised that he had actually, at some point, fallen in love with her. When terror had sunk it's claws into it's heart as he had watched her fall to the ground. How else could you ever know, other than when it was risked being taken from you forever.

It had taken her nearly a day and a half to come back into the world of the living and through all that time, Ned had not left her side. When he wasn't with her, either Ashara or the Maester were instead. That had been the worst that he had ever personally seen her but after she had born the boys in White Harbour when she returned from her captivity at Casterly Rock none had been able to wake her from a deep sleep that fell on her and they had to feed her with honey and water.

She was still weak when Ned had arrived with his father and it took her weeks before she was well enough to even attempt to make the journey back to Winterfell and even then, only in a litter with a dozen furs covering her. But she had seemed stronger at Winterfell as of late, but Winterfell was Winterfell and White Harbour was warmer than most seats in the North due to being closer to the south and the sea.

The Stony Shore was a different matter, it lived up to it's name with beaches made up of nothing but an endless waste of grey round pebbles, some as small as a peach pit and others as large as a small ball. The tide came in quick and sharp, sending spray everywhere and filling the winds with scent of salt and the wind itself was cold and went through a man with a knife.

Ned would be able to handle it, he was a Northman and Lya and Brandon were always quick to tease that he had ice water in his veins instead of blood but Elia was a woman of summer and the babes were young, the Stony Shore would be cold for even a Northman and even a tower house would be could cold. Fires would need to be built everyday to keep them warm.

Well, if that was what it took than that was what he would do.

Ned swallowed deeply as he felt his stomach began to settle, taking a few moments to catch his breath before he made his way back to the cabin, leaving the door open as he stepped inside to try and make it a little less warm. Elia was watching the boys sleep and her smile grew when she saw him come in. "Did the captain say where we were? I can't imagine that we will be far now."

They had taken ship on a Lysene trading vessel that had Planky Town as it's destination on it's way back to Essos, the captain of that was a man that Ned didn't think whose like he would ever meet again, with his copper skin and white hair and colourful silks and extravagant way of dressing with colourful silks and plum feathered caps. "Saan said we should be pulling into Planky Town within the hour."

"Good." Eila's smile could outshine the sun above and at that moment, Ned realised that he could endure the heat and a thousand times worse. "Then we should be at Sunspear by midday, I can not wait for you to see it my Lord. Winterfell has it's beauty as well of course, but I promise you. There is nowhere like Sunspear in all of the world."

"I shall trust your judgement on that, my Lady." He walked across the cabin and poured himself a cup of ice cold water from the flagon, though he wished to drink straight from the flagon itself he managed to restrain himself. He finished the first cup in a matter of seconds and poured himself another one. "Forgive me my Lady, but is it always this hot?"

Elia stared at him for a moment as though she didn't understand the question, blinked and then answered. "It's actually quite cool for Dorne, it is still winter after all." Ned imagined it was the look on his face that made his lady wife laugh at him. "Worry not my love, we shall not stay in Dorne long I should think. Just for my brothers to meet their nephews and for you to meet them. We shall be back in the north to enjoy the last few long moons of Winter, in our new tower house of our own dining on pinecone and pebble soup."

"Nothing wrong with pinecone soup, not sure about the pebbles but they might add some texture." A smile was his token for the jest and Ned sat next to her on the bed, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Elia laid her head on his shoulder as he began to speak. "And, Tower houses grow and expand and become holdfast's and keeps in time.. A second son of House Stark, Karlon was given a tower house and a few tracts of land as reward for leal service. His tower grew, became known as Karl's Hold and then the Karl Hold Starks became known as the Karstarks, becoming a noble house in their own right."

"What shall our holdfast be known as do you think? What will our noble house be known as when we are nothing but bones and dust?" Her voice sounded far away, almost tired. It had been the first time he had heard her so melancholy sounding since they had taken ship, Ned brought up his ran to run his fingers through Elia's hair and Ned felt his wife lean into the touch and into him. "Ned's hold? Eddard's hold?"

"And have our future noble house be called the Edstarks? The Nedstarks? I think our several times great grandchildren would dig up my bones and throw them into the bogs of the Neck as punishment for that, or maybe throw them to the dogs to save on the journey." Elia laughed at that and Ned smiled before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "The Shorestarks? the Stonestarks?"

"The Stonestarks, I like that. When we get back to the North, we should call our new holdfast Stonehold." It was as fine a name as any that he could come up with but he said nothing, merely listened to his wife as he spoke. "And there were will be a large heath with a fire always burning, we don't want it to be too cold. A few grey dogs that chew on bones in front of it. Some hand carved wooden chairs to sit in and bowls and bowls of pinecone soup."

"Sounds wonderful if you ask me." And it did, he could think of anything better. Nice and peaceful and as warm as they could be, with a happy smallfolk. But alas, like most things in life as of late, Ned doubted that it would be that simple. "But that is for the morrow my Love, or the morrow after it. Let us focus on today for now, and you can show me all the wonder of Dorne."

Elia nodded and soon enough a crewman knocked on the cabin wall and called down that they were approaching the dock, they climbed on to the deck with Mors in Elia's arms and Torrhen in Ned's. Both boys were still asleep, it seemed that they also didn't have trouble sleeping on a ship as their father did, he envied them that as he hadn't had a good night's sleep since they had boarded the boat.

When Ned saw the port he couldn't deny that he was surprised at what he saw, it didn't look like much of a port at all. It looked simply like a group of barges had been tethered together at the mouth of a river which he had to assume was the Greenblood. It didn't look like a ship the size of the Lysene ship would be able to find any harbour there and thus they would have to be put on a smaller ship to be rowed across.

Two ships went ahead first with most of the goods packed aboard chests with the rest to go ashore later, Ned and Elia were to go ahead on the next one but only after he had given the captain the payment. The man had kissed him on both cheeks and patted him on the back and wished them both the best of fortune. Ned was almost completely certain he would never meet a man like Salladhor Saan ever again.

They walked across the wooden walkway that all of the barges were tethered too before Elia stopped and ducked into one, Ned raised an eyebrow before he followed her inside. The inside of the barge had been made into a tavern, it was cramped and the air was filled with strange scents but Elia did not seem to notice as she strode through. If anyone in the barge was surprised by the sight of a noblewoman with a babe in her arms in their tavern then they did not show it. They did seem slightly more surprised at him however, Ned held Torrhen tight and followed after his wife.

A rotund woman with grey hair and a patch over her eye looked up from the wine stain she was trying to scrub out, letting out a cry of delight at the sight of Elia. "Princess, oh you are sight for my sore eye you are." She ran around the long plank placed on top of barrels that served as a bar and, most incredibly of all, embraced her like she was her daughter. "How beautiful you are, oh and this little one! He's your son?"

"Yes Yalla, my baby. Well, one of them." Elia gestured for Ned to come closer and she gestured at Torrhen. "He's Torrhen and this is Mors, but that's not why I'm here. Doran knew I was coming but he wouldn't know when, could you?"

"Of course Princess." Yalla ran back around the bar and picked up a large silver bell and a wooden spoon, she hit the bell hard and a low ring filled the barge which got the attention of all of the people and made them look up from their drinks, sadly it also woke Mors from his slumber and the babe began to wail in his unhappiness which alas woke his brother and set him off as well.

Yalla looked as though she had just been told that she was about to lose her other eye but Elia was quick to sooth her before moving to sooth their children, once all the sadness was forgotten with only a few stray tears to act as a reminder the woman spoke. "Right then, listen up ya lot. Ride up to Sunspear and tell the princes that their sister is here, whoever gets their first get's half year's worth of free wine."

Ned was certain that a stampede of rampaging Aurochs would have been a more peaceful exit, only one or two older patrons were left in the bar and Yalla gestured for them to follow her into a small back room which had been made out of a private cabin in the barge. A few strange trinkets and charms decorated the room and another scent filled the air but this one was less heavy and more sweet and Ned could almost convince his nostrils that he enjoyed the smell.

They took seats at a small round table and Yalla reached out to pick up a flagon from the middle of the table and quickly filled three cups. "I was keeping this for something special. And you coming to see me is special enough, considering that you didn't come and see me before you went to freeze beyond the mountains."

"I'm sorry Yaya, I meant to come and see you but everything happened in such a rush." Elia didn't take her cup as she made sure that Mors was safely settled in her arms before she spoke again. "At any rate, this my husband. Eddard of the House Stark, Ned my love. This is Yalla of the Orphans who served as a maid in Sunspear since my great-grandfather's day and was nursemaid for me and Oberyn."

"A pleasure my lady." The old woman laughed at that, one full of life.

"No Lady me my lord. Never have been one, just a woman with a tavern." Another laugh escaped from Yalla before she turned her attention back to Elia. "So then, how you've been since you left for the North Princesss? Everything been alright? Not too cold?"

Ned turned his attention once Elia and Yalla felt into conversation, his eyes ran over all the trinkets on the walls. He also bounced Torrhen every now and then to make sure that the babe was properly settled. It seemed that more time had passed than he had realised as there was a knock on the cabin door and when Yalla opened it, one of the old men said that someone had come for the princess.

Elia let go of the old woman, kissing both of her cheeks like she was her mother, before following Ned out of the barge. Waiting for them at the end of the wooden walk way were twenty men, all of them dressed in copper armour and orange silk, spears strapped across their backs and shields on their arms with the vigil of House Martell blazing on them, the copper of the shields shining as bright as the sun.

The leader of the men, tall for a Dornish man with broad shoulders, leapt off of his horse and strode towards them. Elia let out a cry of delight when his dark face stepped into view. "Cousin!" She cried out before rushing to meet him, the man embraced her, taking care not to crush Mors, and held her for a moment. Elia pulled away, the both of them laughing. "Ned, my love. May I introduce Ser Manfrey Martell, my dearest cousin and Castellan of Sunspear. Manfrey, my husband and my sons. I wasn't expecting you to come and get me."

Manfrey shook his head, grinning before he ran his fingers through his dark curls. "Well, your brothers wanted to make sure that you got back to Sunspear safely. Oberyn wanted to send a hundred guards, Doran wanted to send ten and Aero Hotah. I eventually got them to compromise. A pleasure to meet you Lord Eddard, how are you enjoying Dorne?"

A part of him wanted to say that at least for the moment he hadn't been enjoying Dorne at all, it was hot and dry and he already wanted to have something else to drink and as the sun kept beating down on him he also wanted to strip himself off his clothes and throw himself into the sea but he imagined that he shouldn't say any of that. "Dorne has been most hospitable Ser, I am most eager to meet my goodbrothers and to see Sunspear itself."

"And I know that they are eager to meet you my Lord, and see their newest nephews." Ser Manfrey ducked his finger to tickle Mors under his chin, filling the air with his cries of delight. "We knew that you had the babes so the wheelhouse is waiting." It was certainly one of the strangest litters that Ned had ever seen, it was small even compared to some of the most modest that he had ever seen, looking like at most it could perhaps hold only half a dozen people.

In terms of design it was similar to the one that had brought his Lady wife to the North but unlike that one, it looked like someone had cut it in half meaning their bodies would be exposed to the elements. Well, as it was Dorne he imagined that it would truly only be the one element. Attached to the front of the wheelhouse were two pure white horses with golden manes, they were smaller than most horses but Ned had to assume that they were the famous Sand Steeds of Dorne that could ride for days and nights with only a mouthful of water.

He wondered briefly if his Father should consider arranging a match between House Ryswell and a Dornish house that was renowned for the breeding of Sand Steeds, they might learn from one another and perhaps breed Sand Steeds that were as large as a regular horse. One of the Martell guardsmen opened the small door for the wheelhouse and Elia stepped inside, Ned giving her Torrhen once she had settled Mors on the floor next to a small mound of cushions. A brief parting kiss and Ned was lead over to a free Sand Steed which had been brought for him to ride.

Ned had been riding fully grown stallions since he had been twelve and while a Sand Steed wasn't, he had to admit that once he had saddled it he did feel partly that he was riding a pony. Ser Manfrey rode over to him and handed him a square of fabric, at the raised eyebrow Ned gave him the Martell knight was quick to explain. "Wrap it around you face and cover your mouth, it's unlikely this close to the castle but if we get hit by a sandstorm then it will keep the worst of it out of your mouth and keep the sun of off your head."

"My thanks." Ned said as he wrapped the fabric around his head, it seemed to make the heat worse but the Dornish knew how to endure their land better than he did and thus he followed their lead. Ser Manfrey nodded his approval once he had seen him finish before he rode on next to the litter and handed a few other squares of fabric down to Elia, who deftly put one around her own face but did not give the boys one. Ned knew that she had been terrified of them chocking on a bit of fabric when they were in their cradles and thus he decided to trust her judgement.

The ride was more enjoyable than he had been expecting, he had never ridden a horse on sand before but the steed seemed to know where he was going and the old master of Horse at Winterfell when his grandfather had been the Lord and before Hullen had taken the post had always told him that the horse knew that ground better than the man who rode them and it was best to give them trust.

Dorne had it's own beauty in it's way, it had none of the fertile valleys of the Vale, the never ending meadows of the Reach or even the great forests and hidden coves but the sands looked like gold in the light of the sun and the few tiny streams through out the desert were oasis of green, the water shining like silver. But even now, Ned couldn't deny that he longed to be back in the North, to breath in the cold air that could only come in the morning and to look out on the moors with a cup of hot spiced wine, some venison stew and black bread still hot from the ovens.

But Winterfell would still be there, waiting for him and his wife and his children. Elia had wanted to come to Dorne and he could not deny her that, perhaps Dorne would grow on him as the North had grown on her. Dusk was falling on the land when the began to reach the outskirts of Sunspear, his Lady Wife had not been expecting to have to wait for the guards to come to them when she had said that they should be their by midday but that didn't matter. They were here.

He had to admit, it was impressive. In truth Sunspear was actually slightly smaller than Winterfell and the Shadow City that clung too it's walls didn't look much larger than Winter's Town. The Shadow City itself seemed to have building made of mud and sandstone while Winter's Town buildings were made of stone and timber and straw but then it occurred him that the buildings of the North were built to keep the cold out while these were meant to let it in.

However, the most striking thing that he could see even from as far away as they were was that a dozen long and narrow towers rose up into the air, made of white stone and topped with gold. The longest grew more and more narrowed towards the top with a long golden spire reaching up into the sky, the one next to it was shorter but it had a great dome of gold at the top. If he had to guess and from what his wife had told him, he was looking at the tower of the Spear and the tower of the Sun.

Ser Manfrey cried for the threefold gate to be opened as they rode through the Shadow City and approached the first wall, the great wooden gates swung open as did the two pairs of gates behind it. The inside of the walls seemed more like a city, to be truthful. With noisy bazaars and large courts with fountains and indeed, it seemed at a glance, more people.

They rode through the next pair of gates and soon reached the keep of House Martell, the stronghold at the heart of Sunspear. Ned leapt from his horse and rubbed at his legs as one of their escort held the door open and Elia stepped out, both of their babes asleep in her arms. They walked into the inner courtyard and came to a stop once they saw the welcoming party.

Prince Doran was standing all though he did lean on a carved wooden stick, he was at least a decade older than his brother and his sister. He shared his black eyes, black curls and dark olive skin with both of them. Once he saw Elia and the babes a warmth seemed to fill him, the woman standing next to him was who he had to assume was Prince Doran's wife. She was beautiful, her features delicate and her head bare with rings of gold encircling her long and narrow neck. At their feet were two children, a girl who was the elder with dark olive skin and curls and a boy who was younger with his curls falling into his eyes.

Oberyn was a familiar and welcome sight, dressed in silk robes of orange, red, yellow and gold. He almost looked to be a fire made flesh, Obara was standing next to him and she had grown since Ned had last her saw her, if he had to estimate then she was about an inch taller than Lyanna. Nymeria stood next to her sister, dressed in lilac and sea foam silk, a golden snake encircling her arm.

Little Tyene was holding on to her father's arm, dressed in a gown of pure white. Ned had to take a moment when she realised that Oberyn's other arm was full with a little girl, barely more than a babe. She was as black as ink and her curls were as dark as her father's but her eyes were the brown of warm honey.

Doran approached them then, his stick clicking against the ground as he moved towards them. "Sweet sister." He embraced Elia deeply, holding on to her tightly before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You are as always, a sight for sore eyes and weary hearts. And indeed, these must be my nephews." A hand came out to gently cup Torrhen's cheek before he bent down to press a kiss to his forehead before doing the same to Mors.

"Thank you." Elia spoke at tears welled in her cheeks, Doran quick to wipe them away before he walked to stand in front of Ned. Ned was taller than the prince by half a head and yet, for all the frailness that the stick he required to help him walk implied, Ned sensed that he had a strength in him as well. An authority that could only come with years and years of being raised to rule.

"Well, I won't deny that I was not sure what to expect when I arranged for you to marry my sister, Lord Eddard. According to everywhere north of the mountains, those north of the neck are nothing but savage barbarians who open the throats of babes and animals and feed their blood to their tree gods." Ned felt something that might have been anger curling in their gut but before it could truly set in Prince Doran let out a laugh. "But then, according to those north of the mountains, our women our wanton and our men our wild and care for nought but blood. I think we should take their opinions with a grain of salt, don't you?"

That had soothed the anger, quelling it like a hot forged blade plunged into water and Ned nodded with a smile. "I quite agree, my Prince." He nodded towards the keep before he spoke again. "You have a fine keep, my Prince. If I may say so, we have nothing like it in the North."

"Thank you Lord Eddard, we are quite fond of it as well." Prince Doran spoke with an easy smile before he beckoned forward his wife, who strode across the courtyard with long as easy strides, the children following after her. "May I introduce my lady wife, Mellario of the free city of Norvos. My daughter and heir, the Princess Arianne and my son, Prince Quentyn."

Mellario gave him polite greetings in the thick accents of the east, Quentyn who didn't seem much older than his own sons stared up at him with wide eyes for a moment before he turned his attention to the rag doll in his hands. Princess Arianne stared at him at him for a shorter moment before she performed a curtsey. "The hospitality of Sunspear is yours, Lord Stark."

A small chuckle escaped from Ned's mouth as knelt in front of the girl as Elia pressed kisses to Mellario's cheeks and leaned down to show their sons to Quentyn before Ned spoke to the girl. "Thank you my princess, you hospitality is most welcome after our long and perilous journey. But I must inform you that my Father is Lord Stark, please call me Ned. If this is agreeable to you, and please know that any service you would ask of me. Ask, and I will see it done."

Arianne stared at him for a moment before she giggled and ran over to Tyene, taking her hand and whispering something into her ear. He supposed that could have gone worse, Oberyn came forward with the new girl in his arms and Obara and Nymeria following behind him. "Well, it's been a while and much has happened brother but you don't seem to have melted at all."

"And I imagine, my prince that if you ever came to the North, you would find it in yourself to not turn into an ice cube." Oberyn laughed at that and Elia sighed as she came closer to look at the babe in her brother's arms.

"Oh, Oberyn. Another one?"

"Another one. What can I say my dear sister, there is so much off the world to savour and I am not one to refuse to partake in it. A ship from the Summer Isles came in carrying silk, spice and this little beauty." Oberyn placed a kiss to the top of the girl's head and spoke with a gentleness that Ned would not have expected from him. "Say hello to your Auntie, Sarella."

The girl stared at Elia for only a moment before she let out a whimper and buried her face into her father's chest, clinging to him tightly. Elia sighed and reached out to run her fingers through her dark hair after she had handed both of the boys over to Mellario and Doran to hold for the nonce. "Never mind my love, there will be time enough for all of that later. The Mother?"

"She was the captain of the ship and she doesn't stay in one port for anything longer than a fortnight, she went to Pentos to give birth and only went there during the last few weeks. She tried for her, to be fair. But she came to the conclusion that ship life is no place for a babe and has thus decided to bring her to me. She did mention that she may come visit her at times and I saw no reason to refuse her that."

"Fair enough." Elia said before she pressed a kiss to the girl's crown once again, Ned had to wonder if any woman of the Riverlands or the Reach or the Crownlands or the Stormlands or the Westerlands or even from the North would be so accepting of her brother bringing home another bastard. Well, even if she did disapprove it didn't matter. The girl was here now. "Doran, might we unpack and refresh for the night?"

"Of course, I mean to hold a feast to celebrate your arrival and the fact that I am an uncle twice over. I will see you then, Mel, would you please attend me. Hotah?" The large man with an equally large axe slammed the butt of it down on the ground and followed his prince and his prince's lady into the keep, Oberyn fell into a low bow and followed his brother into the keep, his daughters following after him.

Ser Manfrey ordered his men to take their posts and took it upon himself to lead them through the bright and airy corridors of the keep and up a set of stairs into a large room, he made his farewells and soon enough it was just Ned, Elia and their sons. Someone had taken the forsight of having some cradles set up in the room and Elia placed both boys down before she went to lay down on her bed. "So, what did you think of them."

"They seem noble and kind and as wonderful as you told me that they would be." Ned went to lay down next to her, his fingers brushing through her hair. "Was it good to see them?"

"It was, though I must admit. It surprised me to see Mellario and my brother in the same place." That made Ned frown and Elia spoke again. "My brother and his wife, well. They aren't able to see as much of one another as they would both like too." Again, that made little sense to him. They were wed, why wouldn't they be able to see one another as much. At any rate, Ned was not about to question it.

"It's a shame Ashara didn't come with us, she could have seen her family. They must miss her." Elia's voice sounded far away and Ned's hand came out to stroke her cheek, her dark eyes met his own.

"Ashara made her choice, it doesn't reflect on you."

"She's my lady, I should have ordered her to come with me."

"You didn't and it's done, don't worry about it now. You came because you missed your brothers, your nieces. And now, you've got a new one. Enjoy the sun while it lasts." Elia let out a laugh at that and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"When did my lord get so wise?"

"My love, would you believe the day I married you?"

End of Chapter Fifty-One

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 **Welp, another chapter done and dusted. Writing about Dorne is always fun and we will be coming back here right after the next chapter that I will be keeping a secret for now.**

 **I wanted to point something out that a lot of people brought up, what is Rhaegar waiting for. For one thing, it's important to remember that he really at the moment is only allied with the Lannisters. STABM is against the king but that doesn't automatically mean that they are for him, remember that Robert is his cousin. He's trying to find a way to convince them support his succession.**

 **Another thing is a quote from a storm of swords "Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago but...well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken." Rhaegar is conflicted, he's taking about going to war against his own father. Not an easy thing to do and I believe that doubt made him wait too long.**

 **With much love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	52. Chapter 52

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Two

"Once, a very long time ago. A humble knight with a humble name was wandering the Red Mountains of Dorne, hoping to find some holdfast where he might swear his sword. He would sleep in caves and under the few trees that grew there, breaking his fast on the lemons and figs that grew on them in the morning and would stare up at the star filled sky at night. On those nights, he saw a thousand, thousand different colours that men would have no names for, and for some to this day they still would not."

"But one night, no different that any other night, as the man lay himself on the warm ground and waited for sleep to claim him. He saw a star falling through the night sky, it was a sliver light that blazed through the sky and seemed to leave a trail that would never fade. As the knight watched it fall through the night sky, he knew that he had to follow it. To the end of the world and beyond, if that was what was required."

"Thankfully, he didn't quite have to go that far. The star had landed on an island in the middle of the mouth of the great river Torentine, burning in the middle of a great pit. It's flames were silver and the smoke was clear. In the smoke and the light, a woman appeared. Her hair was a wildfire and her eyes were moonstones, from her breast she pulled out a greatsword and gestured for the knight to kneel."

"Once the man had knelt before her, the lady of the light pressed the sword blade to both of his shoulders. The steel of the blade cut through his cloth and leather and bite into his skin, and yet he had never know a sweeter kiss from a maid. As the sun rose, the lady of light decreed that knight the Sword of the Morning and she faded away with the Dawn, but not before she charged him with building a seat and becoming the greatest knight of them at all."

"And then, hundreds of days and hundreds of nights he laboured. He built a great castle of white stone, with a long tower that overlooked the sea, to see all enemies who could come and threaten Dorne, those who would kill it's men, burn it's castles and keeps and holdfasts. Soon they named themselves kings, only forsaking the title when Nymeria landed. And to this day, Starfall still stands and the same sword that the lady of light produced from her breast continued to be passed down through the ages, not to the eldest son, but to whoever proved themselves the equal of that first knight, worthy of the title of the Sword of the Morning."

"Could I be the sword of the morning Mama?" Lauryn asked as she stared up at her with her soft grey eyes, her cloth princess doll held tightly in her little arms. "Can I defend all of Dorne?"

Ashara smiled down at her, her little girl had brought her more joy than she knew that she had any right too. She reached out to push one of her curls back behind her ear. "You can go back to Dorne one day my love, you can live at Starfall. Perhaps my big brother will allow you to serve in his garrison, you can learn to use a sword and a spear if that's what you wish but only a knight can be the Sword of the Morning and you can't be a knight."

"Why not?" The little girl sounded so offended and when Ashara let out a little laugh at the tone, it only seemed to make Lauryn grow more annoyed with her. "I could be a knight! I can learn how to use a sword, and the horse master said that when I am little bit bigger I can learn how to ride a pony. I could be a better knight than anyone."

"I'm sure that you could my love, but only men can be knights. I know it isn't fair but that is the way it has always been and likely the way it will always be." How many men would accept a female knight? How many little boys would dream of following a female knight? How many boys would consent to squire for a woman? How many wouldn't try to take advantage? Ashara knew how cruel the world could be.

Lauryn looked upset still but didn't ask any more questions as she played with her doll, she looked a bit tired than she did before she had done and Ashara wasn't at all surprised. The story had always knocked her down when she was a babe in her cradle before she was old enough to ask any questions about it. Of course, it had been the same with her according to her brothers.

Every Dayne, either from Starfall or High Hermitage, had been told that story when they were still at breast. How much truth there was in it was a different matter entirely, without a doubt the first Daynes settled on the island in the mouth of the Torentine and there they began to build the great castle that Starfall would become and there was certainly a falling star.

But she some how doubted that Dawn had been pulled out of the breast of a maiden made out of starlight, everyone knew that Dawn had been made from the stars but only from a metal that had been pulled from the falling star. The idea of a maid who swore a humble knight to service simply came about a great deal later on after the tale had been told so many times over.

And yet, she couldn't deny that she had always loved the story. She still loved it in truth, even now. When she had been a little girl and Arthur had been younger they had always played the Sword of the Morning and the Star Maiden, when Arnold had been younger and not yet begun his training to become the Lord of Starfall he would play as well as the Crimson Knight.

That was a different version of the story and not one that Ashara would ever tell her daughter, it was a grimmer version of it and often was the one that most little boys wanted to hear it as it was full of blood and long battles and maids in need of a rescue. In that version, the Crimson Knight was born from a second star the fell not long after the first star did so.

He stood at eight feet tall and his armour was cherry red from the heat, smoke as black as pitch rising up from it as he stood there with a sword that was as black as the night sky. He never lifted his helm, and from inside of it a red light like the fires of the worst of the Seven Hells emanated. His greaves were barbed and his gauntlets shaped like claws.

In that version, the Crimson Knight absconded with the lady of the light and took her over the mountains to a large and dark fortress which had dominated the mountains of Northern Dorne for as long as the mountains had stood, it had long been abandoned and no one had ever known as to what house it had belonged to if it ever had. But if you asked anyone who had explored it, they would all tell you the same thing.

There was the feeling that you did not belong there, and in the dark of the night you could hear ghastly moans from deep within the cellars, moans that would compel anyone to venture down into the dark depths and the misery that they suffered from. But if you did go down into them, you would find nothing but darkness, rats and a chill waiting for you.

The knight who had followed the falling star that far would not abandoned the lady of starlight and thus followed them over the high passes until he himself arrived at the foot of the fort, from outside he could hear the cries and screams and laments of the poor lady as she was made to suffer a thousand humiliations and indignities. A resurgence of resolve filled him then and the knight swore to the gods that he would not leave without the lady of light.

He marched around the castle and yet there was no weak point for him to exploit, no crack which he could slip into. It would take a mighty host to lay siege on to the castle, something that the knight did not have. There were some holdfasts and castles close to the dark fort of course but the knight was humble and did not know any of the lords by name and none would raise a host for a knight who had come to them, swearing that a knight and a maid had fallen from the sky in the heart of stars, then he would be turned away and be accused of having addled wits and that would be the best outcome.

With a cry of frustration, the knight drew back his sword and swung it into the pitch black stone of the wall. To the knight's amazement, the blade didn't shatter into a thousand pieces and instead, a crack formed in the wall. It was small and he almost couldn't see it, but it was there. He swung his sword again and again like it was a war hammer and the crack grew and grew.

For how long he stood there, swinging his sword, no man could say but soon enough the wall gave way to him, a large enough fissure that he could slip through having formed in front of him. He had entered the crack, half crawling and half walking, the damp air inside taking away the warm heat from the outside.

The knight soon found himself in the dark cellars of the fort, a thousand ghastly moans waiting for him deeper in the darkness. And yet, a fair maid like no other awaited him and thus he steeled himself against whatever dangers he might face and pressed on. As he moved through the darkness he could feel someone moving with him, as if someone was following him, or moving towards him. In the total darkness, it was hard to tell. But there was something there with him, which ever direction the tunnel took, no matter how fast he walked, he could feel it with him.

Soon enough, as he kept walking, he came to the stone steps and slowly began to climb them to the main hall of the keep, it was as large as it was bare with the only decorations seeming to be the silk of the spider webs high up in the corners. There was a raised dais but with no great seat or table set up, it was bare but as he had approached, he could sense something. Like something should have been there.

As he stepped away from the dias, he could hear noise. It almost sounded like music and cheering, he walked down the length of the hall to the great doors at the end and pushed them open, both of them screaming in protest. Across from the keep, there was another hall. A large column of smoke was drifting into the air, but there was no hint of roasting meat in the air.

The knight pushed the doors open and walked in, on either side of the hall were long trestle tables with hundreds of men sitting on either side, they were caught in some sort of half a life, neither dead nor living. A ragged red slash on all of their throats, almost as mocking as the smiles on their faces and their eyes were black and empty as a grave pit.

The Crimson Knight was sitting at the table, a large pewter goblet clutched in a mailed hand, overflowing with a wine as red as blood though he made no move to drink from it, how he could was a mystery as he kept his helm on his head. In the light of the torches, his cherry red glow was as black as night and the lady of light, who was sitting next to him with a golden collar wrapped around her delicate throat, golden chains linking it to the golden fetters around her wrists and around her ankles, even with the tears on her cheeks from the great sorrow of captivity she was still the most beautiful thing that any man would be lucky enough to see.

The sight of the cruelty that had been inflicted on the great beauty from the stars filled the knight with a deep rage and he drew his sword and challenged the Crimson Knight to a duel, the victor would be allowed to take the Lady of the Light for his bride. The Crimson Knight laughed, it's laughter was deep and echoed in the helm till it sounded like a demon that had crawled out of the hell, his hall of dead men laughing with him.

Still, the Crimson Knight stood from his seat and with one long, great stride he stood over the table and drew his great sword from the sheath that was slung over his back. The black blade was almost as tall as he is and looked sharp enough to cut through metal plate as though it was nothing. He strode down the length of the hall towards the mortal knight and he raised his blade as the other knight raised his to shield to try and block the blow.

The Crimson Knight let out another laugh and drew black his blade with one hand, like a smaller man would wield a dagger, and swung it down. The blade cut through the shield and came to a stop, wedged into the cut that it had made. The force of the blow had sent shockwaves through his arm, breaking it and causing the knight to lose his footing and falling to the floor.

The knight tried to stand but the pain in his arm was overwhelming and he could feel the bile tickling at the back of his throat. The Crimson Knight placed his armoured boot on the chest and pressed down slightly, the knight felt the bones in his chest cracking and he was able to hold on to enough of his pride to not scream as the monster above him pressed down on his chest.

The knight tried to use his free hand to reach his sword but no matter how hard he tried to get it, tried to stretch his fingers further, the sword came no closer even though it was just a few inches away from his grasp. The hilt of it almost seemed to be mocking him and if it wasn't, the laughter he heard all around him was most certainly doing it.

The monster in the form of a man raised his great sword and with a savage cry he thrust it down and split his breastplate in half, the steel burrowing into his chest. The knight stared at the black steel blade sticking out of his chest, coughed up a mouthful of blood and died. The great hall filled with cheers as the Crimson Knight pulled his sword free and held it high.

But as he turned to go back to his seat, the Lady of Light ran to her fallen knight and held him in her arms. She kissed his brow and wept tears for him as she had never wept for any man and kissed him deep on the lips. The Crimson Knight dragged her away from the body but before they could reach their places back at the table, a gasp went all through out the hall. The wandering knight had stood up, and while no blood was escaping from the wound on his chest, still it remained there.

The Crimson Knight marched over to him and raised his blade, but this time the knight was ready for him. His strength was like no mortal man and thus he dodged and ducked and kept his distance and through out it all, neither knight seemed to tire. With a cry of frustration, the Crimson Knight raised his great sword and swung it down with all of his strength, meaning to split the mortal knight's head in half with a single blow.

The wandering knight had dodged, and had taken his opening. Driving his sword through a gap in his armour where the shoulder guard met the breast plate. The knight gave the titan not a moment to recover as he drew his blade back once again and shoved it through the eye slight of his helm. The knight let out a great bellow, equal parts rage and pain and fear and turned to dust.

And then his hall turned to dust, his host of the dammed, his walls and his stables and his wells and cellars and dungeons and where once a great fortress had stood, now only a mound of fine black dust stood, the knight one side and the Lady of Light on the other. The Lady's chains had turned to dust as well, though the gold that had bound her had turned to the same black dust that that walls had done.

All that remained, was the Crimson Knight's great sword. The Lady of Light picked it up with a strength that no mortal woman had ever possessed. She claimed that the blood that had stained it was that of one of the greatest heroes that she had ever know, she placed a kiss to the dark steel and it turned into the brightest silver that any man had ever seen.

From then on the story turned out much the same, she named the knight The sword of the morning, she left when Dawn came and the knight returned to the island to build Starfall. But this version had always been a favourite of the squires and pages and stable boys, there were battles and quests and sorcery and all the things that little boys loved.

Though, she would wait till Lauryn was a little older till she told her that one. Her daughter had fallen to asleep while she had been lost in her thoughts and thus she knelt down, carried her over to the cradle though no doubt the time would come when she would soon need a little bed of her own, sat her down in it and placed her cloth doll at the side of her.

The sound of the door opening made her turn around, and while it was not ladylike, Ashara made no effort to hide the groan when she saw Brandon walking into the room. She had asked him, with as much gentleness as she could, to keep away from her and away from Lauryn. Of course, it was difficult when she was in his home and Lauryn was his daughter as well.

It was her own fault, of course. Elia had given her the chance to get away, to go back to Dorne and leave this foolishness behind. They could be back in Starfall by now, she could take Lauryn to the top of the Palestone Sword and watched as the morning sun turned the blue sky the most loveliest pink that the world had ever seen.

And the way Elia had looked at her when she had turned her down, when she had told her that she would stay. She had been so certain that it had been the right decision, or so it had seemed at the time. All she had seen was that her friend, her sister, wanted rid of her to make her own life easier. Or at the very least, at the time, that was how it seemed.

She had been foolish, she hadn't seen the rope that Elia had thrown to her.

It was Catelyn that made her realise how stupid she was being, how selfish. Watching her belly swell, watching her as she hummed and went about her business, claiming that the Mother's gift did not call for idleness. It was seeing how very, very happy she seemed to be while at the same time knowing nothing of what was happening behind her back. That was what had made her mind up for her.

"I asked you to leave me be." She pointed out weakly before she walked over to the window of the nursery, also standing in front of Lauryn's cradle. Whatever else happened, she was not going to let him have her.

"It's a pity this isn't your home, nor can you tell me what to do and you shall not keep my own child from me." There was a dark growl in his voice and for the first time, she remembered that the wolf blood ran wild and hot in Brandon's veins and a wolf was not as like to let any man, and certainly not any woman, tell him what to do. "You're being childish."

The sheer gall made her laugh, though it was a dark and bitter thing. She shook her head. "I am being childish? I am trying to be an adult, this can not be, this will not be. You have a lady wife, and the both of us have shamed her enough. I pray to the Seven every night that they will forgive me for being as foolish and weak as I have, now, you will please leave me Lord Brandon."

She heard Brandon stepping up behind her and she was ready to spin around and smack him if that was what it took to make him go away but before she could move, Brandon wrapped her arms around her waist and rested his hands on her stomach before he began to kiss and nip at her neck, blowing on it as well, the heat of his breath making her shiver. "Do you honestly think that I haven't noticed? My lady wife's belly hasn't been the only one that's been swelling? How long?"

Ashara closed her eyes and felt tears running down her cheeks the shame and the love and the hate and the fear and the desire wrestling inside her for control threatening to destroy her. She exhaled. "I've known for half a moon."

"Well there we are then." He kissed her neck again and they stood there in silence. "I am leaving Winterfell tonight, I am leaving and I am taking you and Lauryn with me even if I have to tie you up, gag you and carry you over my shoulder down to the stables and throw you across my house like you're a tied up sow."

"Catelyn's your wife, she's going to have your child."

"A wife chosen for me, a child I don't want. You are someone I would have married a thousand times over, carrying a child I want and has already given me one." He sounded convincing, did he not understand what he was truly speaking off. She wanted to turn to look at him, to look into his eyes but he held her firm. "We can go, across the Narrow Sea, to someone nowhere will find us. I was never meant to be a Lord, Father was fooling himself by trying to make me one. I'll take up work as a sellsword, I've only ever been good at fighting and fucking. I'll make us enough coin to buy a manse and we will live there for the rest of our days."

She wanted to tell him know, she wanted to scream and curse at him. She wanted to slap him and tell him a selfish fool he was, that had no care for anyone but himself and what he wanted. She wanted to break free of his hold, take Lauryn and flee to Lord Rickard and ask him to arrange a galley from White Harbour to take her to Dorne and have her child in Starfall, surrounded by those that she loved more than anyone in the world.

But Ashara Dayne didn't do any of that, she simply closed her eyes, nodded and fell.

End of Chapter Fifty-Two.

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 **Another chapter down, please leave a follow, a favourite and a review if you enjoyed.**

 **With much love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	53. Chapter 53

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Three.

The flesh of the blood orange was as sweet and tart as she remembered and the juices stained her fingers, she had carved the flesh out and cut it in to pieces before popping one into her mouth. She picked up another piece of the sweet fruit and offered it to Mors, laughing as the baby bite into the soft flesh and cooed and giggled at the sweetness of the fruit.

He was growing so fast, he had been the smaller of her babes and yet he had become the bigger in the days that he had spent in Dorne, his brother had been born bigger than him and but he had been growing slower than him, still he may be growing slower but Torrhen was still growing and he would be as healthy and hearty as any babe should.

She had spoken to Maester Caleotte, the soft and fleshy maester had not changed at all since she had last seen him and he was always a welcome sight; she had always preferred him to the one from her childhood, in his opinion both of the babes had long since left the most dangerous period of their lives and in his mind there was no reason that they should not continue to thrive.

She knew that should have soothed her thoughts but she couldn't shake the fear that something would happen to them, she still remember the first time when Doran had told her about what had happened to Mors and Olyvar, how one moment they had each been a perfectly happy and healthy babe that always seemed to everyone that they had looked so healthy, that they would thrive and grow strong and would soon enough be playing in the pools with all the other boys and girls at the Water Gardens.

Elia had never known them but Doran had been six when Mors had been born and close to ten when Olyvar had come. He had told her how both of them had left this world, with Mors it had always been a bit more gradual, one day he had seemed a bit sluggish and not as bright as he always seemed too and from then on it had just gotten worse for him.

The poor boy had eventually grown so weak that he couldn't even cry, the Maester had told their mother that it was a poison of the blood and there was little and less that could be done for him and one day, he had just not woken up from his crib. It hadn't been a surprise, everyone in Sunspear had known where it was going and that the second son of House Martell was going to die, the tears they wept in the days that followed were not unexpected but they were bitter and full of grief and the knowledge that they would come did not make the weeping any easier.

With Olyvar, it had been so sudden. He had been a happy baby and there had been no illness, one day he had gone to sleep in his crib and when the septa had gone to wake him, she had found him dead. The maester had opened his throat, looking perhaps for a scrap of silk that might have gotten lodged in his throat and stopped him from taking in air in the night. But there had been nothing, he had just died in the night and there was no clue how to how.

The thing that her saddened her the most of it, was nothing to do with her brothers, though there was always a sense of melancholy about the fact that she would never get to know them, no it was what Doran had said it had done to their mother and their father. It had reduced their mother to a sobbing and screaming wreak both times, it had been so scary for him as he had only even seen his mother as the Princess of Dorne, he had never seen her lose such control and it had been terrifying.

When Doran had first told her that, she hadn't been ready to believe it. Mother had only ever been the Princess, distant and while she knew that she was loved by her mother, there was always a distance between them while she had still been alive. She had almost been like the Spear Tower of Sunspear, beautiful and graceful and made of stone.

But when she had gotten older and she had thought about it more, she imagine that it really only made sense. Mother had miscarried several times and lost two children before Elia was born and she had been a small and sickly babe, unlikely to survive even a moon's turn. The Septon had told her that in the first few weeks of her life, every day that she had lived was a blessing from the gods, any other babe would have died.

Mother had been terrified that she would die, had woken up each day terrified that would be the day that the wetnurse would come to her and tell her that she had died in the night. She had shielded herself against the hurt of that by not allowing herself to get to close to her. And even when Elia grow and survived, she still did not let down her walls as her illness continued to persist.

Strangely, at the same time it also made her Mother pay that much more attention to her. While other boys and girls would run through the Shadow City of Sunspear or going riding on their horses through the sand dunes of the desert or playing in the pools of the Water Gardens, Elia had been stuck inside under the care of nurses and septas and the maester, all of them watching her every single second of every single day.

Father had always been protective as well and had always been ready to stand watch over her himself, he had been reduced to a pale spectre when Mors had died according to Doran and he had been even worst after Olyvar had died as well. He oft refused to let her out of his sight and when he wasn't holding court with his mother, he was almost always with her.

Elia had almost resented Oberyn, there was only a year between them after all and for such a long time when she was a child she didn't understand why they had been treated so different. She was coddled and locked up in order to keep her safe, Oberyn was always allowed to go and play with the others, with bigger boys than him and to fight and he almost never got in trouble for it. For a time, when she had been very, very young, she had been convinced that her Mother and Father must have hated her to keep her locked away, or at the very least had not wanted a daughter.

Looking back now, she knew it was silly and foolish but it was ever so surprising to look back and see what actually made sense to a child. And while there were certainly things that she would change about it if she could, in a perfect world she would have three older brothers and not just the one, there were also things she would not change about it if someone offered her all the gold in Casterly Rock and in all the Westerlands besides.

Oberyn would always bring her flowers and fruits from the Water Gardens and would carve her little wooden toys as well, the first had been a dragon with three heads. She still remembered the way that he had smiled at her as he held it out for her to take, the toy resting in palms that were covered with cuts that her brother did not seem to mind at all. He had just kept smiling up at her, the smile on his face threatening to outshine the blazing sun above.

Father would spend whole days with her and would read her as many stories as she liked and would spend countless hours teaching her letters and numbers, Mother would pick her up and rest her on her knee as she held court and would introduce her to all of the lords and ladies in Dorne and when she told her all the names of the houses of Dorne, and their words and their banners, she would smile and pat her head and hand her a piece of blood orange cake.

Even Doran, whenever he visited from Salt Shore, would bring her presents. Mostly old books that he thought that she would like and more often than not he was right but he would also bring her little toys, brightly coloured dresses and even one time a Myrish lens which she loved more than any other gift that she had ever been given, she would spend countless hours at night at the very top of the Spear Tower, using the lens to see the stars in the sky as close as she could. Several times she had even fallen asleep up there and had to be carried to her bed by a servant.

She could fell the tears pricking at her eyes and Elia quickly wiped them away before anyone could see, she didn't know why she was crying. She was not sad, though the thought of her childhood was a bittersweet one. Father was gone and Mother had followed after him not too long after and now she and Oberyn and Doran were separated by thousands upon thousands of miles, those days would never come again.

Elia quickly bowed her head to press a kiss to the top of the babe in her lap's head, and partly to hide her face until the attack of melancholy passed her. She didn't wish to ruin the jovial mood that had fallen on everyone else. Mors cooed at the affection and clung tightly too her and when Elia pulled back to look at him, she traced his face with her finger.

No would could ever make the claim that she was a woman who believe in old wives tales but she had to wonder if part of her fear had been the name she choose to give to one of her boys, she had chosen to name him after Mors Martell her ancestor, she hadn't paid the brother she had never known much thought beyond that other than telling Ned that he was not who she had chosen to name their son after.

Perhaps she hadn't realise that giving him the same name might make her terrified that the same thing would happen to him and his brother. No matter what the master said or didn't he say, she somehow had the sense that she would be suffering with the fear of something happening to her sons for a long time indeed yet.

Her melancholy was soon put out of her mind however by a savage war cry which made her look up from Mors face, the sight greeting her making her smile and for a moment all her fears fled from her. Ned and Oberyn were standing in one of the pools of the Water Gardens, the water coming up to their knees, both were shirtless and Obara was perched atop her father's shoulders while Nymeria was perched atop Ned's.

Ned and Oberyn were trying to push the other over while Nymeria and Obara were trying to push the other off of their shoulders, Ned was taller and broader in the shoulders than Oberyn and as he tried to push her brother over, she could see the muscles straining under his skin. But Obara was a bigger girl than her older sister and Nymeria was barely able to remain seated on Ned's shoulders and the rules stated that the first to fall into the water cost their partner the game.

Tyene and Arianne were toddling around the pool, holding hands and whispering secrets to one another like they were sisters even through they did not look much at all alike. One was as dark as the other was fair but even so, many who would look at them would think that Arianne was Tyene's sister, more than either Obara or Nymeria.

Sarella was sitting under the shade of one of the blood orange tree's, little Quentyn was sitting next to her with a septa watching over them. Elia had grown fond her newest little niece and she was shyer and sweeter than any of her sisters though she did not doubt that with Oberyn as her father, that would not last long and she would soon be getting herself into trouble.

It seemed to her that all of her little nieces had favoured their mothers, all except for Obara, she had never met the woman and knew nothing about her other that she was from Oldtown, was a whore and was dead but she had seen Oberyn every day of her life and looking at Obara, even with a glance, would be enough to tell that she was his daughter.

Her face was the same shape, her nose came to the same point, her eyes were the same colour. Obara had not been granted any beauty but she had been granted the same features as her father and the same strength as well, he had always been able to topple the older boys in the pools and it seemed that Obara would not prove to be any different.

Her younger sister proved to be as different as the night was to the day, Nymeria's colouring was that of a Dornishman of that there could indeed be little doubt, the thick dark hair which she oft chose to wear into a long braid that travelled down to her back, the dark eyes that were often as black as a starless sky and the dark olive skin that burned even darker under the hot sun.

But as where Obara's mother had been a lowborn whore from Oldtown, Nymeria's mother had been a noble lady from the Free City of Volantis and she had all of her mother's beauty. Her cheeks were her high, her nose was small and delicate and her eyes sparkled in the light like two small black diamonds, and indeed in some lights might have even looked like dark onyx.

She would be one of the most beautiful women in all of Dorne once she was grown, Elia had no doubts when it came to that. But for now, she was just a little girl playing with her sister and father and her aunt's husband, she wanted to freeze them all in that moment and let no one else into it so that it could remain unspoiled for the rest of time.

Though she doubted that it would remain that way. All that was good, always seemed to pass. The thought had came so suddenly and she didn't know from where, the attacks of melancholy were infrequent but on a day when she had one they would not clear from her no matter what even when there was so much around to cheer her, whens she was surrounded by all of those that she loved.

Elia turned her attention back to her nieces, hoping to shake the thoughts away. Of all her sisters, it was Tyene who resembled her Mother the most. Her hair was as fair as wheat and shone like spun gold in the sun and her eyes were as blue as the sky above their heads. When Oberyn had told her about the septa he had bedded, she had smacked on the back of the head and had screamed at him for being so very foolish.

But Tyene was a sweet girl who had always loved to sit with her when she was ill and read her stories from whatever book that had fallen into her lap that day or even just to sit and sing with her to try and cheer her. She had loved her so much for that, and perhaps held a certain fondness for Tyene that her other sisters had not quite been able to match.

Elia had the sense that she would not meet Sarella's mother but even with just a glance at her she could tell that she favoured her Mother over her father, she was as black as a pot of maester's ink and the top of her head was a mop of chestnut curls. Her eyes were a warm and bright amber and when she laughed, her voice was like a song.

And it wasn't just Oberyn's daughters who favoured their mother, Arianne favoured her mother as well. Mellario was a small woman with eyes the colour of golden honey and Arianne was a small girl with eyes of the same colour. Quentyn resembled his father more, with dark curls and dark eyes and a strong looking nose.

Speaking of Doran he was the only one who was not with them at that moment, he was up in his personal solar and every now and then she had caught sight of him watching them but now it seemed as though he had retreated to his solar with Areo. Mellario was sitting next to her at the table under the shade of a small clustering of blood orange trees, Torrhen was sitting in her lap and his chubby little fist was playing with her sapphire, ruby and garnet necklace.

Mellario did not seem annoyed and indeed smiled down at her nephew, offering him her finger to which he could clutch on too. Mel seemed to notice that she was staring at them and turned her head to look at him, offering her a warm smile. "Is everything well Elia? Are you feeling ill? Would you like me to ask Ned to come and take you to bed?"

Elia shook her head at her words but not for the first time she wondered how Doran could be so stupid, to not see what he was loosing right in front of him. Mel was kind and generous and had never been anything but dutiful to him and had crossed the narrow sea to be with him and yet he barely seemed to care sometimes that his union to her was falling apart, she knew that they barely saw one another, most times when one was holding court in Sunspear, the other would be in the Water Gardens.

They did their best to hide it from the rest of Dorne but it wasn't a well kept secret that their marriage was an unhappy one, they were able to keep it from the children and she was thankful enough for that. She knew that Doran had his duties as a prince and that sometimes Mellario wasn't used to that, or the way that they did things in Westeros.

She still remembered the argument they had over dinner when the matter came up that any children they might have would more than likely have to be fostered to other lords and ladies to build alliances. It was not a common or even a well known practice and Mellario had been completely against it, it had only gotten worse when Arianne and Quent had been born.

Elia had to wonder how she would feel when the time came for Mors and Torrhen to be fostered out, it would be awhile yet, most children didn't get fostered until they were at least seven and she would enjoy them for every moment that she had them and there would of course be letters and visits but even so she couldn't imagine that she would handle the separation from her sons well, it would be even worse if she had both taken away from her at the same time.

"I am fine Mellario, just lost in my thoughts, such as they are." Her hand came to rub her thumb over Mel's knuckles and smiled at her before she turned to look back at the wrestling match taking place in the pool, it seemed that Nymeria had regained her mount and her strength and had almost pushed Obara off but suddenly Ned's feet slipped and fell backward, grabbing on to Oberyn's arm as he fell and dragging both him and Obara under the surface as he and Nym fell, sending a wave of water over the edge of the pool, soaking Arianne and Tyene's feet and sending them both into a fit of giggles.

After a moment, Ned, Oberyn, Obara and Nymeria all surfaced, laughing. Even Obara was smiling before she splashed at her sister and soon another great battle was on. If only all battles brought such joy and brought no injuries on to those who fought them, if all disputes could be solved this way then perhaps the world would be a better place than it was.

But she was no such fool as to believe that would ever be the case.

Elia and Mellario watched them playing in the pool for a time, the moments slipping past like golden sand through their fingers. Tyene and Arianne had joined them and Quentyn and Sarella were dipping their feet into the water under the careful eye of the septa. A small cough bought her attention and made Elia look away from the pool to see a servant approaching, a letter clutched in her hands.

"This came but a few minutes ago Princess, Maester Caleotte wished for me to bring it to you." Elia took the sealed letter with a word of thanks and looked down at the paper, sealed with a blob of grey wax. The fierce head of the Stark direwolf emblazoned upon it, as her fingers came up to trace the seal, a chill of cold ran through her despite the blazing sun above them.

Dark wings, dark words. As she stared down at the letter Elia knew that whatever was hidden by the wax seal would not bring them any joy but she also knew that it couldn't be avoided. Her fingers brushed over the harden wax for a moment before she called out to Ned. "Ned, there's a letter and it looks to be from Winterfell."

Ned looked at her and then smiled before he crawled out of the pool and stood up, droplets of water running down his chest and his wet trousers clinging to his legs like a second layer of skin. His skin had been baked brown by the sun, in the first few weeks that they had been in Dorne, the sun had been burning his skin red and it had caused him a great deal of pain and he was forced to stay inside but as of late, he had been able to bear it better than he had been.

She held the letter out for him and he took it from her hand, glancing down at it for a moment before he looked back up at her. "I imagine that it's my Father summoning up back to Winterfell, we've been here far longer than I had been expecting."

They had indeed, they had only come to Dorne to show her brothers their sons, they hadn't expected to be in Dorne for longer than a week but as soon as they arrived, their departure for their return journey back to Winterfell had been put off more and more. Ned had been interested in speaking to Doran about the sand steeds and proposed the idea of some matches between Dorne and House Ryswell of the North, try and breed houses that were as fast and enduring as the sand steeds but large enough that they could support a knight in full armour.

Doran had seemed so interested in the idea as did Oberyn, who always had an interest in horseflesh and was often in the stables of Sunspear, over seeing the breeding and care for the steeds. Elia had missed them so much, that the thought of going back to Winterfell hadn't occurred to her in all the weeks they had stayed.

The Sand Snakes had also grown fond of their Uncle Ned and none of them wanted them to leave yet, even though Obara would neither call Ned that or would admit it. Letters had been sent back to Winterfell, assuring them that all was well and they would be returning shortly. Shortly never seemed to come however.

If it was just a summons to return to Winterfell than she would be fine with that, happy. But a summons wouldn't be instilling this sort of dread into her as she watched Ned's strong fingers break away the wax and unfolding the paper, his eyes scanning the words. After a few moments of reading, his fingers clenched tightly around the paper and he let out something that sounded like a strangled gasp.

"Ned, what is it?" Elia asked as she handed Mors over to Mellario who sat him on her knee next to his brother before standing and walking over to her husband, when she glanced behind him she saw that Oberyn had gotten out of the pool and was standing up with his arms crossed over his chest, a frown on his face.

Ned handed the letter over to her with a look on his face that she couldn't describe, at first she thought that it was a look of horror but it looked too angry for that. She began to read the letter for a moments and felt horror, shock, disappointment and rage and sadness running through her as she read the words on the paper in her hands.

 _Ned,_

 _As soon as you get this letter you need to come back to Winterfell, as soon as you can. Something's happened and I have no idea what to do, Brandon's gone. He left Winterfell a few nights ago and no one has any idea where to look for them or where they went and Ashara and her daughter are gone as well and he left a note saying note to look for them._

 _Father's going mad, I don't think I have ever seen him this angry before in my life. As soon as he read Brandon's note, he tipped the table over and threw his chair through a window. The Maester says that if he doesn't calm down then he's going to have another attack and Benjen won't stop crying because of how scared he is._

 _Catelyn was hiding up in her room for days, not eating but now she's sent a letter to her father and he's coming to Winterfell but we don't know if that's just to talk or if it's to bring an army. Father's not taking any chances though because he's sent a few hundred archers down to Moat Cailin to hold the causeway if they have too._

 _Ned please, you need to come back now. I am scared and I have no idea what to do and I am trying to be brave for Ben but I can't, please come Ned. Please come right now._

 _Lyanna._

She had to read the paper again, and again before the words finally sunk in and when they finally did, she shut her eyes and let her fingers release the hold on the paper, it fluttered towards the ground as she shut her eyes and imagined all the things that she could have done to stop this. Ashara was her lady, she could have commanded her to come to Dorne with them and all this could have been avoided.

Gods, to think of how happy she was when she learned that Ashara was coming North with her, that she was bring Lauryn with them as well. That she wouldn't be alone in a strange land with strange people. How grateful she had been when Doran had summoned her down from Starfall to accompany her North.

Something clicked in her mind then and there, why had Doran chosen too summon Ashara to act as her lady? There were hundreds in Dorne who would be so grateful for the honour but Doran had chosen Ashara. And he had chosen her after the betrothal had been set and Ashara had brought Lauryn with her North and Doran had not commanded her not too.

In that one moment, Elia saw all the pieces of the puzzle that had been bothering her for so long falling into place and it all made a horrible, brutal sense and a mix of rage and horror filled every single inch of herself. She turned to Mellario. "Mel, take the children to my chambers please. Ned, come with me." She didn't wait for her husband's answer or for anyone to ask any questions, she simply stormed inside the Water Gardens.

Someone was following her but she didn't look back to see who it was, her mind was focused on one thing and one thing alone. She climbed up to the second level of the leisure place that a prince of Dorne had made for his Targaryen bride and walked the lengths of the pink marble corridors until she came to the oak door that would lead into Doran's solar, she did not knock on the door, she threw it open and walked inside.

It was so sudden that Aero Hotah drew his long axe up and looked ready to charge at her like he was a bull but once that he saw that it was her, he hesitated and Doran held up his hand to gesture for him to stand down. "Is there a reason you have decided to burst in my solar without knocking, have you forgotten your manners and courtesies?"

She wanted to slap him right there and right then, he knew. He had to know what had happened, he had planned for this. She managed to hold herself back and kept herself calm as Ned came to stand next to her, his face a mask of confusion. "Brandon Stark has run off with Ashara, he has taken Lauryn with them as well. Ashara wouldn't leave her either way but Brandon would have as well, because she is his daughter as well. But you knew that, that's why you sent her with me to the North. You planed for all of this."

Ned looked at her like she had just said that the Wall was made of frogs but Doran just stared at her for half a heartbeat before he stood up from his chair and poured himself a goblet of strongwine before picking it up and taking a sip from it. "Aero, would you be so kind as to close the door for us?" The Captain of the Guards nodded and went to shut the door without saying a word.

"You don't deny it Prince Doran, you knew that Ashara had a child with my brother?" Ned's voice sounded so cold that it would be able to freeze the Sea of Dorne on the hottest day of the year. Elia didn't think that she had ever heard him so angry in all the time that she had known him. "If that's so, then why did you send her North with Elia?"

"Let us be clear, I did not know that Ashara had a bastard with your brother, though I certainly suspected." Doran's face quivered from the pain in his legs but for the first time in possible all of time, Elia found that she didn't care about his pain. She might have even thought that he deserved it. "We all knew that Lauryn's father was not a Dornishman, and your brothers appetites were known well enough Lord Eddard. Even if it turned out that Brandon wasn't her father, Ashara would serve well enough."

"Your brother is known for being charismatic and Ashara is a beautiful woman, some would even call her the most beautiful woman in the world. One way or another, I knew that Brandon would fall for temptation and take her and would soil his reputation and would more than likely be disinherited. The fact that Lauryn was his daughter, well that just made it all the easier."

"Why?" There was a dangerous edge to Ned's voice that made Aero run his hand over his long axe and take a step forward but Doran held up his hand again to stop him. "Explain to me why you would do this, and do it now."

Doran let out a sigh before he sat back down, clearly unable to keep standing due to the pain in his legs building up. "You are a good man, Lord Eddard. A very good man indeed. You are honourable, kind and indeed wiser than I had been expecting and your idea for a match between Dorne and House Ryswell is an excellent one and you treat my sister better than I could hope but you are a second son, do you really think I would allow my sister, a princess of Dorne, to be wed to a man who was heir to nothing?"

"I wouldn't, I need to get Brandon out of the way so that you would be the heir to Winterfell instead of him and it has worked almost perfectly I think." There was no gloating in Doran's voice, that was the worst thing of all. He wasn't a villain from a song who was boasting all over his plans coming to fruition, he was her brother and he almost sounded sad.

"And in truth, it's all for the best. Lauryn get's two parents, Brandon is free of his responsibilities which I am lead to believe that he doesn't enjoy, the North gets a finer Lord Paramount in you than it would in your brother, Elia get's to become the Lady of Winterfell and my nephew is now the heir to Winterfell when you become Lord, Eddard." Doran took another sip of his wine then before he spoke again. "Everyone's happy."

"Everyone is not happy, Catelyn Tully and the child she carries is not happy at all. Lord Rickard and Lord Hoster are not happy." Elia growled out as she took another step towards him. "Your foolish plan failed Doran, Hoster Tully is going to Winterfell right now and Catelyn Tully's child will be the heir to Winterfell once it's born."

"If." Doran replied, a cool look on his face and Elia saw that her brother was gone and the Prince of Dorne had taken his place. "If the child is born, it might not and many and more things have not been settled yet. And Lord Rickard...well, things are never quite as they seem are they? He knew exactly who Lauryn was the moment he set eyes on her, he told me so in a letter and he knew what his son was as well. Did you not find it odd that Brandon and Ashara were able to escape from Winterfell so easily? I think I will leave it up to him to explain the most of it, needless to say that the alliances will hold as they have done. I imagine you will both be returning North?"

"Yes, yes we are. Today in point of fact." Ned spoke quickly and emotionlessly, his eyes as dark as pair of fat grey storm clouds. "Prince Doran, I thank you for your hospitality but I find that we have no more need for it, I will ride for Planky Town once I have changed and find a ship that will take us back North. Excuse me." With that, Ned turned and left the room and slammed the door hard behind him.

"Well, that's the end of that. I trust you will that he is soothed." Elia whirled on Doran then and slapped him hard across the face and then backed handed him with the same hand on his other cheek. She would have slapped him again but before she could, Hotah came forward and clamped his meaty hand around her wrist like it was an iron manacle.

"Princess, you forget yourself." His voice came out in a quiet rumble, like a thunderstorm approaching while Doran took out a handkerchief and dabbed at the thin trail of blood where the fire onyx of her ring had dug into his skin. With a single word he ordered Hotah to let her go as he looked up at her from where he sat.

"I will forgive that-

"I will not." Elia spat as she rubbed at her sore wrist from the strength behind Aero's hold, it was almost throbbing in pain. "I will not forgive this, any of it. I do not care for what reason you did any of it, it is unforgiveable. You used me, my friend, her daughter, my husband and his family like we were all pieces on game board to you. You and Lord Rickard both, I may step foot in Dorne again Doran, but I promise you. So long as you draw breath, I shall not forgive you." She turned and began to make her way to the door but Hotah stepped in front of her, an impassable mountain of a man.

"Let her go Captain." For a moment, Doran sounded so sad and tired that she wanted to tell him that she hadn't meant it but she didn't do that. Once Hotah had stepped out of her way, she made her way to the door and slammed it shut after she had left before making her way through pink marble corridors towards the apartments that Doran had gave them when the had arrived.

Ned was dressed in northern riding leathers, and not the sort that Doran had given him not to cook in as he rode, when she arrived and looked more angry than she had ever seen him. Mellario was sitting in the corner and left the room with a look of deep sorrow and confusion before she left the room and soon it was just the two of them, the babes asleep in the other room.

"You can't think that I knew anything about this?" She muttered quietly as Ned packed his clothes away in a trunk, the few he had decided to keep. He froze for a moment at her words before letting out a deep sigh and turning to face her, walking over to pull her close to him. Elia almost cried when she felt him kiss the top of her head.

"I know that you didn't." His words did bring on the tears and he held her for a moment before he pulled back. "But I can not, I will not stay here for a second longer. I can't."

Elia nodded, she couldn't either and so she decided to help him pack. As they packed Oberyn came to them and asked what had happened and when Elia told him he had a look of murder in his eyes that had this not happened, she might be more concerned about what he meant to do. Once all the trunks were packed, Ned left to ride to Planky Town.

He came back a few hours later as the sky was starting to turn a dark shade of pink. There was a trading ship from the Summer Isles going up to White Harbour, carrying silk and cinnamon and cloves but it would not be leaving till the morning. Neither of them wanted to stay a moment longer than they actually had too and so they still set off that night.

They arrived in Planky Town with the moon high in the sky and the chill setting into her bones and with two very unhappy babes, Yalla gave them beds for the nights and hot wine to warm them.

When the morning finally came after the longest day of her life, they were finally sailing home.

End of Chapter Fifty-Three.

* * *

 **Welp, there we are then. Another chapter done and this one finally answers some long asked questions, the main one being why Doran would send Ashara north with Elia if he knew, or at least had a suspicion about Lauryn's true identity. The reason is thus, he wanted to ensure that Elia would have more than a dismal little holdfast.**

 **Now some are going to point out that this would more than likely destabilise the alliance but I offered some small clues at why that isn't going to happened, chapter after next which will be from Ned's POV will explain them. All I will say now is, Doran does nothing without considering all the factors.**

 **Sadly, Doran's plans also don't consider the personal cost. A fault which I have always found very interesting in him. In this case, he might just cost himself his place in Elia's affections.**

 **Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and will consider favourite, following and leaving a review.**

 **With much love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	54. Chapter 54

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Four.

When her Father had read the words that had come to Riverrun by the black wings of a raven, Lysa didn't think that she had ever seen him so angry as she had done in that moment. His face had turned as pale as one of her bedsheets and the blue of his eyes had widened while the black dots in the centre had shrunken and his hands had clutched at the paper so tightly that he was fairly sure that he was going to rip it in half.

Lysa had not been able to see what had been written on the paper herself as her Father had stormed out of the room after he had finished reading the letter, slamming the door after he had left so hard that it almost splintered the wood. Uncle Brynden had told her not to be concerned about it with the warm smile that had always comforted her when she was a little girl and had scrapped her knee or when Cat had chosen to play with someone else over her.

But she had seen something in his eyes that had made her incapable of not worrying, he was scared as well. She had always known her uncle wasn't telling her something and she wanted to know. She needed to know, but according to master Vyman, her Father, her uncle, the steward and the master-at-arms had still not left her father's solar.

It was unbearable waiting for any news.

It wouldn't be as bad if she could speak to Cat about it, but she had heard no word from her. She had wondered if the letter was from Cat but she couldn't imagine what Cat could have written that would have made their Father so angry. Cat had only ever made their father smile, Lysa wasn't a fool she had always known that her Father had a favourite child and it was not her and it was not Edmure.

The worst thing was, Lysa couldn't hate Cat for that. She had loved Cat more than anyone, she had been there her entire life. Even with how hard it was for her for Cat to be the more beautiful one, the smarter one, the one with more poise who all of the boys gave their flowers too and all of the knights wanted her favour over Lysa's, some younger sons and nephews might pay her a compliment but it was always Cat who shined that much brighter than her, every single time.

It would have been so much easier to bare if Cat had always been mean to her, had been the older sister who would laugh at her, would push her down into the mud and pulled at her hair but Cat had always been a perfect older sister who had played with her when she was lonely even though she was older than her by almost four whole years and would read to her when she was sick.

They had even invented a secret language when they were girls, as a way to speak about the people around them without anyone knowing who they were speaking off, a perfect way to share secrets. If Lysa tried then she was fairly sure that she could write a letter to Cat in that same tongue, she wished that she could send a raven to Cat now as it would mean that she would be able to know what she did and no one else would have too.

But they weren't little girls playing their secret games anymore, they were both of them women grown and Cat was beyond her now. It was part of the reason that Lysa was certain that the letter had been from her, Father had forbidden her from sending any letters and now only he, the maester, the steward and the master-at-arms were allowed to go into the rookery.

Her entire world at times had seemed to shrink to her chambers as of late, she couldn't speak to her Father or her Uncle as they always seemed to be rushing after something more important than her, poor Petyr was still in a foul mood about Catelyn being gone and refused to talk to her as well. Lysa had a few ladies and maids about her but she didn't truly consider any of them friends and Edmure was just a stupid little boy, they had never been close to one another and it had always been Cat who had bridged the divide between them.

It would be better once she was married to Ser Jaime and off at Casterly Rock, being prepared to be it's future lady. It had all that she had been looking forward too, it had been the fuel for all her dreams. She would be wearing a dress of green and gold brocade with a cloak of her father's colours and all would smile at her as she walked down the length of the sept of Casterly Rock, to her future husband.

In her dreams, Jaime Lannister would look even more handsome than he did when she had seen him at Riverrun. His curls would look like spun gold that would shine in the candle light and his beautiful green eyes would shine like emeralds and when he looked at her, he would smile like she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Lysa would turn her back to him so that he could remove her bridal cloak and she would run her fingers over his cloak once he had put it on her shoulders, taking her into his protection. All the ladies and lords and noble knights would clap and cheer for them then, for their future lady. Lord Hoster would be smiling so proudly, in that moment Lysa was sure that none of his children would ever make him so proud as she would when she took the young lion of Casterly Rock as her husband.

Not even Cat would make him that proud, she would be there as well of course. With Brandon Stark standing next to her, his arm around her waist. Cat would kiss her cheeks and she would smile at her and tell her how beautiful she looked, how she had outshined even her own her own wedding day. Cersei Lannister would be there with Prince Rhaegar and she would kiss her on her cheeks as well, telling her how happy she was to have another sister and Prince Rhaegar would say that he had never seen anyone even half as beautiful as her.

Then they would go to the feast, there would be suckling pig and river pike served with mashed yellow beats and green leaves and pies filled with venison and mushrooms. And smaller pies as well, filled with pork and beef and mutton and pies and eggs and cheese. Ducks and swans wore be stuffed with plums and nuts and there would be cheese and beard as well, served with every single course.

And the sweets, that was what she would look forward to the most through out it all. There would be tarts, blackberry ones and strawberry ones and blueberry ones and pastries filled with sweet cream and almonds and jams and cakes made with honey and lemon cakes as with, large ones with spun sugar decorations, of lions and trout's and castles and some lavender biscuits and apples baked in cinnamon.

Jaime would serve her of course, the Lord's portion and the choicest of morsels he would feed to her himself. Inbetween each bite of food, he would sneak a kiss and by the time the sweets had come, his kisses would be even more delicious than them and Lysa would want nothing more than to spend the rest of her life kissing him, more than even Petyr.

Petyr would be there as well of course, and he would cast a single perfect tear at the sight of her being wed to someone else but he would be understanding and happy for her and Lysa would make sure that he was given something to do, she had never been to the Fingers but the way that Petyr had described had always made it seem such a dismal little place that someone as bright and as brilliant as Petyr should not be condemned to spend the rest of his life.

He was always so good with numbers, perhaps she could find him some high position in Lannisport? If he served well, then in time he could rise to be as high a lord as Lysa always knew that he was destined to be. And he would kiss her cheek and thank her with all of his heart, because he would realise that it was all due to her. That it was always her who was on his side.

Soon enough, the bedding would come and Lysa would blush so prettily and giggle until she couldn't breath as the men picked her up and carried her off to the bedchamber where she would get under the covers and would wait for her husband to arrive. His chest would be bare when he came to her, a smirk on his handsome face when he saw her and climbed into the bed with her.

When he slipped inside of her, Lysa would cry just a little at how good it felt. She would scratch at his back and cling to him and would moan once she reached her peak and felt him spill inside of her. The thought of the result of that night made her smile, a little babe with golden curls like his father and her deep blue eyes on their face.

She let out a sigh as she felt sun gently bathing on her face, pulling her out of her thoughts. It had been raining for the past several days, an almost constant downpour which seemed to be reflecting her own mood and the mood of Riverrun as well. She hoped that the sight of the sun meant that things were finally about to change and that all would be well.

The door to her chamber opened then and when she turned, her mood soured slightly and a frown came on to her face when she saw that it was her uncle, the sight of him was always a welcome one but the sight of him in armour was unusual when he was inside the walls of Riverrun. "Lysa love, your Father wants to see you right away. Come with me."

Lysa frowned as she gathered up her skirts and stood up from the window seat and followed her uncle out of her chamber, the castle seemed more silent than usual and it was unnerving. They eventually arrived outside her father's solar where two guardsmen were standing guard, the one on the left nodded and went inside to announce her before coming back out to show her inside.

Hoster Tully was standing out on the balcony, like his younger brother he was dressed in armour as well with a swordbelt wrapped around his waist. Was there to be a war? Her mind was thrown back to the conversation she had overheard with her Father and her uncle in the old servant's passage, that was how she knew she was going to marry Ser Jaime before he had come to Riverrun after all.

But they had spoken about things that hadn't made sense to her as well, something about how many men that the Westerlands and the Reach could field together when compared to the rest of the kingdoms, and not wanting to risk the King's wrath and something about a boy and what they had planned for him. It was so hard to remember any of it now, to be honest. She had been so giddy when they spoke of her marrying Jaime that all the rest of it had faded away like mist in the daylight.

Lysa didn't know anything about wars or battles, but that certainly seemed like the talk that men would have when it came to war. Something about the king as well, had someone threatened him? Sure he would have called for all the swords in the Seven Kingdoms by now if that was true. "Father, you wanted to see me?" She called out from behind his desk, her hands delicately folded in front of her. If there was to be a war, than Father would tell her. Surely he would.

Hoster Tully did not turn his gaze away from the horizon, he simply kept staring forward. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "Lysa, darling come here. I want you to see something." He beckoned her forward with a wave of his hand and Lysa went forward to stand next to him on the balcony. She looked down as the Tumblestone gently babbled passed, it's surface being unbroken for the first time in days.

Her father turned to her and reached out to move a lock of her back behind her ear, he looked older than he had done the last time she had properly seen him. "Lysa, listen to me. Your uncle and I need to go North for a time, your sister has been insulted and disgraced." He turned away from her then and walked over to the edge of the balcony, clutching his hands into firsts. "That ungrateful bastard of a husband made mockery of her, he dishonoured by having relations with a lady in service to Princess Elia and the both of them have fled from Winterfell and apparently, no one knows where they've gone. Lord Rickard claims to have been ignorant of all of this, ha! Does he think I am fool? This was all under his nose, in his seat, with his heir and he knew nothing? He insults me, and Catelyn is alone and has a child growing inside of her. I will not tolerate this."

Lysa didn't know where to begin with all that she had just learned, she knew that something bad must have happened and she had suspected that it might have had something to do with Catelyn but this had been the last thing that she thought had happened. Why would anyone abandon Cat? She was so beautiful and kind and if she was pregnant, then that was clearly proof enough that she was fertile. Lord Brandon would have no reason at all to be displeased with her, certainly not enough to run away with some Dornish whore.

Princess Elia only had one lady in service to her, the Lady Ashara of House Dayne of Starfall. She was a beautiful woman, with thick dark hair, light olive skin and violet eyes. Lysa knew she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world but what an awful woman she must be, to steal away Cat's husband from her while she was pregnant with his child. Lysa hoped they both paid for it. "What is Cat to do? Is she going to come back home?"

Lysa hoped that would be the case, poor Cat would be so upset over all that had happened but she would be better once she came back to Riverrun. The babe would be little better than a bastard of course, but it would be loved and accepted. She would make sure enough of that and may haps once it was old enough, it could squire for Edmure and once Lysa was married to Ser Jaime, she would send for Catelyn to come with her, to serve her as one of her ladies. What fun they would have together.

But it seemed as though that was not to be, at least not for the moment as her Father shook his head at her question. He looked so furious, as though he had been hiding it up to now but now that he had hold her the truth he saw no reason too and she could not deny that the fury that she saw in her Father's eyes at that moment still terrified her like it did when she was little, the same sort that would send her running and hiding up in a tree in her mother's gardens or in some little nook in the castle, hoping he wouldn't find her and would forget about her and that would be the end of it.

"No Lysa, Cat will be staying where she is if I have anything to say about it. Brandon Stark might have abandoned her but the child she is carrying is still his and thus is Lord Rickard's grandson and heir. I will not stand by if Lord Rickard thinks he can somehow set your sister aside or cheat my grandchild of their rights then he will have quite a shock coming to him."

"Your Uncle and I are going to ride North with two hundred men, not enough to threaten Winterfell to be sure but more than enough to make sure that the message is clear to Lord Rickard." Her father put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes as he continued to speak. "Lysa, listen to me. Your brother is still just a young boy and while he might be Lord of Riverrun, there is much and more that he still doesn't know about what it means to be a lord. You sat in with me and your sister while I held court so while your uncle and I are gone, it will fall to you to guide your brother and to rule the Riverlands in my stead."

"I know that I can count on you love." The words made her smile and made her face turn redder than her hair, he had never said anything like that to her. To Cat, certainly. It had always been Cat that Lord Hoster had asked questions too when he had held court, to make sure that she was listening. Lysa had always just sat quietly at his side, she hadn't paid much attention after it had become clear to her that holding the court was mainly just for Cat to learn.

But really, it didn't matter much at all. She already knew everything she needed to know, The Brakens and the Blackwoods hated one another, Lord Frey was very old and always wanting more than he actually deserved. That was really all she needed to know and she could handle the rest as it came, she was sure that she could. "Don't worry Father, I will take care of everything."

"I know you will sweetling, in truth you won't have to do that much. The steward and the maester will do most of the day to day work and ruling, managing the castle and what not but it will be up to you to hold court. Edmure is still a young boy, when I was his age and your grandfather held court all I wanted to do was run off and go sparring in the yard but my Father made sure that I stayed and because I stayed, I learned. He will need to learn as well, make sure that he stays and doesn't run off."

"I will." Lysa said with a nod, she could do this. She was certain that she could. Lord Hoster pressed another kiss to her forehead and dismissed her and asked her to send his brother into him. Lysa withdrew and left the room and then sent her uncle into the room after her and began to make her way through the stone corridors of Riverrun, a thousand thoughts rushing through her head like a river.

She didn't think she had ever lived a day without seeing either her father or her uncle, when Lord Hoster had ridden off to go and deal with some quarrelling bannermen then it would be Uncle Brynden she would go to for comfort and advice and when Uncle had ridden off into the night after he had yet another fight with Father, well, she was never one to run to Father for comfort anyway but she at least had the knowledge that he was there at the very least.

But now they would both be gone, off to save her sister from the heart of the savage north. It almost seemed like something out of a song. There had never been enough music at Riverrun for Lysa's taste, when they all came back she would have a feast held for them and there would be plenty of music. Singers and pipers and harpists as well. She might arrange for some fools as well, jugglers and jousters on top of them.

Poor Cat would need as much cheering up as she could get, she was still young, though not as young as her, and beautiful besides but she was damaged goods now. Her child might be heir to Winterfell and it might stay in the North, but Cat would surely have to come back to Riverrun and her Father would never be able to find her as good a match as he had done with Brandon Stark, what lord would have her now?

A sudden and terrible thought struck her, as if someone had just shot a crossbow bolt at her. He wouldn't try and give Catelyn to Jaime, he couldn't do that. It wasn't fair, the match had been made for her and not for Cat. But Father had always preferred Cat, always. He would fight for her and her rights in a way that he would never do for her, he would never ride hundreds of miles with hundreds of knights for her. She had always known that. Lysa was always given the second best of everything her in entire life and Jaime was going to be hers. Cat couldn't take that form her, she couldn't.

A wave of sadness struck her than, as overpowering as a wave during an autumn storm. A rough sob escaped from her throat as she imagined Cat taking her place in her dreams, wedding Jaime and being the lady of Casterly Rock while Lysa was left with nothing. Married to someone awful, an old man with no teeth like Walder Frey or Eldon Estermont or Jon Arryn.

It was all too much, it was all so unfair. Another sob escaped her throat and she pushed herself forward, bringing up her hand to cover her mouth. She was vaguely aware that she wasn't even running in the directions of her chamber anymore, she was just running in any direction. Perhaps if she ran fast enough, then she might be able to escape her pain.

She turned a corner so quickly that she didn't see anything that was in front of her until it was too late and so with a cry, she collided with someone and fell to the stone floor. She pushed herself up by her hands and was ready to pick herself up and run off before whoever she bumped into had a chance to yell at her but she was frozen in her tracks when she saw that it was Petyr, her beautiful Petyr.

Whenever she saw him, she always felt so guilty. He had looked so shocked when her Lord Father had announced publicly to all of Riverrun that he was arranging a match between herself and the young lion of Casterly Rock. She had wanted to go to him right there and then hold him to her, to tell him that he was still dear to her and that she would never forget him and that he could come with her to the Westerlands but once she had approached him, he had run off.

Since then, the air between them had been icy indeed and Lysa had tried to give him some time, some space. He would come around, Petyr must have felt what was between them. The love that they both shared, she didn't understand why he made it all so difficult, why he insisted on fighting it, why he acted like he almost hated her sometimes when she knew that he didn't.

He did seemed annoyed at her at the moment, but she could understand that. She had just run into him, Petyr got to his feet as Lysa rubbed at her eyes to try and hide that she had been crying. It seemed to work as Petyr did not seem to have noticed. He rubbed his fingers, long and delicate and lovely, over the blue silk doublet that she knew was one of the finest things that Petyr owned. "What's wrong with you Lysa? Is there a reason you're charging through the halls like a rampaging Auroch?"

Lysa gathered up her skirts and got too her feet, embarrassment rushing through her entire body. "I am so sorry Petyr, I was just so upset for a moment and I lost control of myself. I didn't hurt you did I?" She asked as reached out, unable to hold back a shiver as her fingers came into contact with his soft skin and she stared into his grey-green eyes.

They were such beautiful eyes, they were not the brilliant emeralds of Jaime Lannister, to be sure, but they were just as beautiful in their own way. They always seemed to hold secrets in them, mysteries. Things that Lysa always wanted to find out, to better understand him but at times she thought that burrowing through the Wall with a spoon might have been an easier task.

Petyr pulled back and Lysa frowned at the lack of contact but she soon forgot that when she saw Petyr starting at her with those lovely eyes, burrowing into her skin and seeing straight into her. When he looked at her like that, all thoughts of Jaime and Casterly Rock and being the lady of a great house fled from her like the survivors of a defeated army after a devastating battle. "And what exactly could have been so distressing to my Lady, that has made her so upset? Tell me Lysa, I might be able to help."

He couldn't of course, Petyr had no men to command and she knew that her Father would be angry at her for telling what he meant to do before he was ready but Petyr would never hurt them and he was too clever to tell anyone and he would never betray her. Petyr would never be so wicked as to get her into trouble and so, Lysa told him everything.

Once she was finished speaking, Petyr had turned very quite which struck her as worrying as she had never known Petyr to lack for words. Of course it was understandable, he had always been so fond of Cat and now he heard how she had been shamed, dishonoured, ruined. It made her angry as well and so, so sad but what could they truly do about it now? Cat would have to bare the same.

She reached out for Petyr, to hold him and pull him close to her so that she could give him comfort, to offer shelter from the onslaught of what he must be feeling but before she could close even half the distance between them, he spun on his feet and stormed off. Muttering something under his breath that she couldn't hear.

She wanted him to come back, she wanted to command him to come back. He couldn't walk away from her, but the command froze in her throat and wouldn't come out no matter how hard she tried. Misery all she had left, she brushed her tears which had stared up once again and spun back to make her way back the way she had came, heading back in the direction of her chambers.

Let Cat come back, it didn't matter. In the end, she would have everything and Cat would have to live on her generosity one day, her kindness.

Oh yes.

End of Chapter Fifty-Four.

* * *

 **Yeah, Lysa has a very...complicated relationship when it comes to her sister, there is a lot of genuine love and affection between the two of them but there is also a lot of resentment on Lysa's side as well. Catelyn's the first born daughter, she's the more beautiful one, the more talented one, the favourite.**

 **There's a lot of interesting similarities in fact between the Tully sisters and Sansa and Arya, and it's interesting that Arya is in fact more like Lysa in this situation.**

 **I also really enjoy writing Lysa, she's such an interesting character. She wants her cake and to eat it as well, mainly she wants to marry Jaime but she also wants Petyr as well, maybe not to marry in this situation when she would marry Jaime but she does want him near her.**

 **Anyway, next chapter will be an Eddard chapter and we are back North and Lord Hoster and Lord Rickard will be having a conversation.**

 **I also hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review, a follow and a favourite if so. Constructive Criticism is always welcome.**

 **With much love and many thanks,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	55. Chapter 55

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Five

Winterfell was always beautiful, always a source of comfort for him, and even in the hardest of times, or at least it always had been. In times such as this however, the comfort that Ned had come to expect from Winterfell was not as ready as it always had been. Part of it was due to waiting for Lord Hoster to come and meet with them in Winterfell but that was not the only reason that everything seemed more difficult as of late.

Returning from Dorne had been arduous and not for the first time, Ned wondered if it might have been better to return overland instead of by ship but if they had then they would have passed too close past King's Landing if they had taken the route through the Prince's Pass and would have fallen under the King's gaze. They could have gone through the Boneway which would take them through the Stormlands as if Ned was sure of anything it was that he could trust Robert more than anyone else and that he would welcome them with open arms if they turned up at Storm's End.

But either way overland they would eventually have to cross through the Riverlands and that would mean putting themselves at the mercy of Lord Hoster and hoping that they would be able to pass through unnoticed. If they had gone overland, Ned didn't doubt they would've wound up the guests of either King Aerys with the threat of being burned alive or guests of Lord Hoster to gain some leverage over his Father.

No, he knew that going by sea had been the safest option but it had taken a great deal out of Elia, she had come down with a fever and for a few days that never seemed to end he had been terrified that he would lose her, that their sons would grow without their mother to watch them, to watch them grow into little boys and spar with wooden swords before learning how to use true steel, to watch them grow into men who would take wives of their own and have their own children make them both grandparents.

He could think of nothing worse, if she wasn't able to see all of that. He had covered her with every blanket and scrap of fur he had been able to find on the boat, and that by itself had lead to some tense moments which had lead to him not taking of his swordbelt for the rest of the voyage back to the North. He had also practically poured hot spiced wine and onion broth down her throat to try and keep her strength up and to break the fever.

Alas, she seemed to simply hover in her fever for almost all of the journey, not getting any worse which he was beyond thankful for but she didn't seem to get any better either and it had terrified him. Care for their sons had thus fallen on to him as well and that had left him exhausted, he had los track of how many nights he had shut his eyes for a moment only to be woken up once again by the cry of a babe or by Elia succumbing to another fit of coughing.

By the time their ship had finally arrived in White Harbour, Ned was half feverish himself and he was ready to collapse himself when they finally presented themselves to Lord Wyman at the Merman's Court. Considering all the services that the man had done for them and his house over the recent moons, Ned didn't doubt that soon enough there would be a Manderly married to a Stark soon enough.

Lord Wyman didn't have any daughters, as far as he was aware and while he did have sons Lyanna was his father's only daughter and she was promised to Robert. More than likely, if Ned had to guess, Benjen was going to find himself as a ward of Lord Wyman and when he did finally have a daughter of his own Benjen would find himself wed to her.

It was odd to think of Benjen as being betrothed to someone, in truth he was a little older than most boys were when they were fostered, he was older than both Ned and Brandon had been when they had both been fostered off, to the Vale for Ned and to Barrowtown for Brandon. Ned really wasn't sure why his Father had waited so long to send Benjen off but if he had to guess, he had to assume that it was because he had sent both of his older sons away when duty called, he had wanted to keep at least one son close to raise as his own.

But duty was always the one thing that Starks couldn't avoid and soon Winter would be over but it would always come again and again and again and they would have to be ready for it. Childhood melted away as easily as summer did and Benjen would have to become a man if he was to face it, even though he had to admit that the thought of him growing up did bring a sadness on to him, when he thought of Benjen the first thing that came to his mind was the little boy who would always follow him through out the halls of Winterfell when he had come visiting from the Vale, with scraped knees and a sword made of wood and messy black hair and make him promise to not tell Father about sparing with Lyanna.

Whatever Lord Wyman would expect or plan as a reward for his service, at the moment he had arrived with a wife that was half dead, two babes who were feverish to the touch and shitting their swaddling and he barely being able to stand due to taking care of all of them, Lord Wyman had summoned his maester and nursemaids and septas and the moment that he was placed in a spacious chamber, in a large and comfortable bed that was stuffed with goose feathers and soft silk pillows, he was asleep in a matter of moments.

When he woke, the Maester told him that he had been asleep for over five days and both Elia and the babes were almost completely recovered. While Ned knew the Maester had no reason to lie him, he had wanted to see his family with his own eyes to make sure of it for himself. Elia had been placed in a bed chamber with a bed easily capable of holding three men of Lord Wyman's size.

She looked almost pale, too pale. But once she saw him the smile she gave him could still threaten to outshine the sun itself, she had a glass of hot spiced wine with a squeeze of a raw lemon mixed in and she had been nibbling on goat cheese and black olives and some fresh baked bread. Ned had sat with her for close to an hour before he had gone to check both of the boys.

When he walked into the Nursery of White Harbour and saw both of the boys playing with a wooden wolf and a set of small wooden soldiers, painted in the colours of House Manderly bearing merman on their little wooden shields, all under the careful eye of a big boned, heavy breasted Septa with a face lined like old leather and with eyes as hard as sleet, eyes meant to watch out for any mischief.

He spent as much time with them as he could, more than he had done with Elia it ashamed him to admit as he looked back on all of it now. The sky had still been light when he had walked into the Nursery but when Lord Wyman had invited him to sup with him in his own private solar, an invitation that he couldn't have refused even if he had wanted too, the sky had turned black and there had been a sharp chill in the air.

Lord Wyman was a man who loved to eat, everyone in the North knew that. His Lord Father had been much the same and in truth what could be expected when you seat was situated in a place of great bounty, White Harbour was surrounded by fertile lands to grow crops and to raise cattle and sheeps and aurrochs, waters full of life and able bodied fishermen that went out every day and trading ships that brought in foods and spices from the lands across the oceans every single day.

Ned never considered himself a greedy man, but he didn't doubt that if he had been raised at White Harbour as well then he mostly likely would not exactly be a small man. Lord Wyman's generosity clearly extended to his table as well, Ned didn't think he had ever eaten as well as he had done that night.

Capons that had been drowned in butter and serve with a with carrots and raisins and parsnips and red grapes mixed together, freshly caught cod that had been fried and was served with peas and onions, crab legs coated with salt and served with butter and mashed neeps, a hot crab pie with roasted squash, lamprey pies, squids, a fish stew thick with cream, clams and oysters with a tart vinegar and with every single course there had come fresh baked bread and plenty of butter and cheeses.

Ned had been to full by far to try any of the sweets that had come later, though he had forced himself to sample a lemon cake and two lavender biscuits so as to not seem rude, but that did not deter Lord Wyman. He had three honey cakes brought out, all of them soaked in extra honey and each of which looked as large as a flour wheel, there were also lavender biscuits, fruit tarts, lemon cakes, a selection of various fruits some of which he had never seen before, cheeses that were veined with sweet wine and a winter cake, made of fruits and nuts.

Lord Wyman had been able to finish an entire honey cake by himself, a few pieces of cheese, four lemon cakes, two blackberry tarts and half of a winter cake. The food had been taken away, to be shared among the servants and the poor of White Harbor. When all of the food had come and gone, all that was left for them to do was talk.

The conversation had started out light enough, Wyman had asked him how Elia and the children had been fairing since they had been under his care and Ned had responded that they were doing well and that he and House Stark owed him and his household a great debt, exactly what Lord Wyman wanted to hear. Wyman had smiled at his words and finished off his cup of wine.

From there, Wyman had asked about his father and his siblings and Ned told him that they were well and that hopefully they would be able to make a visit to White Harbour as one. Ned didn't know how much the rest of the lords of the North knew about Brandon fleeing, but the safest bet was to assume that they all knew nothing about it and to act like he knew nothing as well.

The rest of the night had slipped away and once all the niceties had been said Ned stood up and made his way to Elia's chamber, his wife had been asleep when he made his way to her but that didn't stop him from climbing into bed and wrapping his arms around her. A full belly and the sound of her breath and the comforting weight of her in his arms drew him off to sleep.

The next morning, Ned knew that they had to continue their journey on to Winterfell. Lord Wyman was quick to offer his roof for as long as they required it but denied him with as much grace as he could. All he had asked for was a wheelhouse for Elia and the babes to travel in and a stallion for himself. The Lord of White Harbor gave him what he needed and more, a small escort of ten knights to ensure they made it back to Winterfell safely.

He didn't have to, but Ned couldn't deny that the escort did make him feel slightly better as they raced onward to Winterfell. He was also thankful that the escort wasn't overly large either, it was large enough to dissuade any bandits or brigands on the road from trying to attack them but it wasn't so large that they would find themselves making no time at all.

Hoster Tully had far less distance to travel and Ned had wasted far too much time sleeping, he should have woken up earlier and rode to Winterfell while leaving Elia and the children in Wyman's care till all was done. If war came to the North, then White Harbour might be one of the safest places for her to be.

Not that Elia would hear it, she refused to be left even though Ned tried to tell her that she had been on death's door, that she needed to stay here and rest with the babes to regain her strength. Alas, she wouldn't be told and she made it clear to him that he would ask Lord Wyman to supply a wheelhouse for both herself and the babes to travel in, they would not be separated again.

Six days after leaving White Harbour, they had arrived back in Winterfell. He hadn't entirely been sure what he had been expecting when he rode through the gate of the castle, knights surrounding him at every side and the wheelhouse trundling after him. No, that was a lie. When he had read Lya's letting in the Water Gardens of Dorne, the words chilling him to the bone so not even the bright and brilliant sun of Dorne in the clear blue sky could warm him, he had been expecting to arrive back to utter chaos.

He was disappointed in that regard, there were no fires burning nor armies laying siege to the castle, nor even any of his father's bannermen gathering here to gain their strength. The glass houses stood as they always did and stable boys tended to the horses, Ned had caught sight of Hordor once had had ridden in bringing in two large bales of hay over his shoulder, and serving girls were drawing buckets of water from the well and carrying them into the kitchens.

His father had explained it all soon enough once he had presented himself to him in the main hall with Elia at his side, the chaos had passed a few days after Brandon had left and now they were simply waiting for Lord Hoster to arrive, two days ago a raven had arrived from Moat Cailin that the Lord of Riverrun, his brother and three hundred swords were riding up the causeway.

Ned wasn't a fool, he knew that Hoster couldn't hope to take Winterfell or even threaten it with only three hundred men at his back, but the simple fact he had brought armed men with him was message enough. Three more days had passed since then and now they were simply waiting for Lord Hoster to arrive in the small private dining room.

More than anything, at this moment all Ned wanted was to have his wife at his side but the day after they had arrived back in Winterfell, another fever had fallen on to her and the maester had confined her to their bedchamber with no visitors other than the maester himself. He did not believe that she was in much actual danger, simply that she had exhausted herself and with her delicate constitution it had been more hard on her than it would have on most and all she truly needed was rest.

He reminded himself to go and check on her as soon as this was done, at the moment he and his father, Lyanna and Benjen were the only ones standing in the dinning room as they waited for Lord Hoster to be brought to them. Ned wasn't sure if was a smart move or not, a Lord Paramount being brought to another could be seen as insulting, as though the lord was somehow beneath them but at the same time this was Winterfell, his Lord Father's lands, the seat of his power and the heart of the North.

Perhaps the hidden warning would serve Lord Tully well when it came to it.

The door to the room opened and it wasn't Lord Hoster, but it was a Tully. Lady Catelyn's face was pale, her blue eyes were as hard as stone and her red hair bound in a hair net. Her dress was velvet, dyed black with pearls around her neck and moonstones in her hair net. It took Ned a moment to realise that she was in mourning, though for who he couldn't quite be sure.

According to Lya, she had been spending the past few weeks barricaded in her room and refusing to come out after she had sent her letter which had brought her Father on his way to the North. She wasn't refusing to eat at the very least, and that indeed was something. The last thing they needed was her starving together while she was their...guest.

Gods old and new, how did everything go so very wrong? Prince Doran's words floated in front of his head and he shook them away, he refused to believe it. Father surely wouldn't do such a thing, he couldn't truly know anything of Brandon and Ashara, his Father wouldn't have turned a blind eye and watched as his brother destroyed his own life, throw his birth right away.

He wouldn't do that to Brandon, he wouldn't do that to him. He couldn't.

Lady Catelyn let her eyes drift over all of them for a moment before she straightened her spine as she stared straight at Lord Rickard. "My Lord, I see that my Father has not arrive as of yet. Do we know when he will be here?"

Rickard Stark examined her for a few moments and then spoke out. "I don't doubt he will be much longer at all, my Lady. My scouts reported sight of a train coming this way, three hundred men at least. I would say they will be here soon enough, why don't you take a seat for now? Might I send for you some food from the kitchens? You must needs keep your strength up, for yourself and for the child."

Lady Catelyn frowned slightly as her hands dropped to cup the gentle swell of her belly, noticeable now even through the thick fabric of the dress. That was his nephew or his niece in there, and Brandon had abandoned them. Ned wasn't blind to what his brother was, he knew that he liked to ride and drink and whore but he never thought for a moment that he would abandon the woman he wed, certainly not when she was carrying his child.

He was wrong about, what else had he been wrong about?

"No, I thank you my Lord, but I am not hungry at the moment. I think I shall wait for my Father to come before I eat." Catelyn Tully did not break her eye contact with him as she pulled out a chair from the table and sat down in it. Ned knew that some people could call him cold, but right now Lady Catelyn was as cold as ice and just as dangerous. Not that he could truly blame her for that, of course.

Lord Rickard nodded and sat back down in his own chair and gestured for his children to take their own seats, which they all quickly did. Brandon's absence was keenly felt, the man didn't know when to shut up and often that had always irritated him but now that he wasn't there to irritate him, he found that he missed more than words could say, the absence like a knife to his own heart.

A silence fell on the room then which was only occasionally broken by the sound of a horn of ale being raised to lips or someone letting out a cough. In the long stretches of silence that never seemed to end, all he wanted was Elia at his side to help him through all of this. A smaller, warmer hand to hold. Gods, this couldn't be over soon enough.

After what had felt like hours the door to the chamber opened once again and the maester of Winterfell scurried in, his chain jiggling with every step that he took and filling the air with the soft chink of metal. He seemed older than Ned had remembered him and there was worry in his eyes. "My Lord, Lord Hoster and his host are heading up the road as we speak with all haste. I imagine they will be here within the hour, shall you come to the courtyard to welcome them?"

His Father brought his horn of ale to his lips and took a sip from it. "No, I think not. Lord Hoster has taken it upon himself to come this far without my invitation and I am not going to trouble myself more than I should. Go and greet him Maester, and then bring him here to me and send word down to the kitchens to send the food up for us."

The maester bowed his head after a moment and then left the room while Lady Catelyn stared intently over the table at his Father, Ned imagine that if she could convince herself to do it, to lower the armour of her courtesy, then she would be sending Lord Rickard a glare that would be able to cut through his Father like a crossbow bolt through a steel breastplate

Thankfully, the silence that fell on them after the maester had left was a brief one as he soon returned with Lord Hoster and his brother, Ser Brynden. As soon as they walked in, Catelyn stood up from her chair and walked over to them and embraced her Father for a long moment before letting him ago and pulling her Uncle into an embrace that lasted just as long.

As his daughter was distracted with her brother, Lord Hoster strode forward and stared at Lord Rickard who had not rose to greet him for a moment before he bent his head slightly. "Lord Rickard, I thank you for inviting us into your hall and for bringing us to your table, such a great honour you do to us. As one Lord Paramount to another, I thank you for it. I hope you know that if you arrived in Riverrun after a long journey, I would offer you the exact same hospitality."

"I have no doubt about that at all, my Lord of Riverrun. Please, take a seat and you as well Ser Brynden. To have such a well known knight at my table is an unexpected joy. I have asked for some food to be brought up to us, even in the dead of Winter let it never be said that I would suffer a guest to be hungry while he is under my roof."

"I thank you." The courtesy was cold as the Lord of Riverrun strode forward and took hold of his seat and sat himself down, his brother sitting on his right while his daughter sat down on his left. "Winterfell is as beautiful as I remember it to be, whoever holds it after the gods see fit to take you into their arms, will be a lucky man indeed, or woman I suppose if the winds of fate blow us in that direction."

Lord Rickard hummed but said nothing as the door to the chamber opened and half a dozen serving men walked into the room with platters topped with bowls of leak and pea soup. The bowls were placed in front of them with each having half a loaf of brown oat bread to dip into the soup and in Ned's opinion it looked wonderful, but he had little appetite and that seemed to be shared by the rest of the table.

Catelyn took a few spoonful's of the soup so as to appear polite and despite his lack of appetite Ned forced himself to tear his loaf in half and dipped it into the soup and nodded at Lyanna and Benjen to do the same. They were in the dead of Winter and no food could go to waste, none of them knew how much longer it was going to last and every single scrap was to be cleaned away.

Soon, regardless of if they truly wished too or not, all of them were eating though it was not at all a pleasant experience. The air felt heavy, and almost chocking, the only sounds that could be heard was the slurping of soup. It was a very fine soup, seasoned with salt and pepper and thickened with cream and he was sad that he couldn't appreciate more.

The bowls were empty and all that was left of the bread was tiny crumbs, as the bowls were cleared away and the servants left to go and bring up the next course, Rickard picked up his horn of ale and took a sip of it before he spoke. "It is such a long journey between Riverrun and Winterfell, I remember making that journey myself. So many times in point of fact, so many interesting things we spoke of. And Riverrun, ah has there ever been a more beautiful castle? With it's white stone walls and blue tipped towers and the mighty rivers, I can not think why you would want to have come this far, in the dead of Winter."

"Let us not waste any more time then My Lord, I will not pretend that I and the rest of House Tully did not feel insulted when we heard about what you're son had done, insulting my daughter in such a way, abandoning her while she carried his child. Our grandchild, I trust that my Lord of Stark is just as outraged as I am about this matter? And is also having men hunt down Lord Brandon and his...consort, so they can be brought back here and face justice." There wasn't a hint of rage on Lord Hoster's face, it was as calm as a still lake but that almost seemed to make it worse. A calm sea that hide a thousand dangers under it's surface.

His Father thankfully, did not seem to be intimidated. He simply kept his eyes matched with Lord Hoster. "No one is more sorry for me about the insult that your family has suffered my Lord, I do indeed have men out looking for my wayward son but I am afraid is it not as simple as all that, the North is bigger than all other six kingdoms combined and Brandon is well known and well loved, he has many friends who might hide him, even from me. I can not say as to where he might be now, Lady Ashara is a lady of Dorne, perhaps they both went there?"

"I have sent a raven, both to the Lord of Starfall and to Prince Doran, the both of them claim that they have not seen them. But I can only take their word for it." The frustration in his voice was growing and Ned was suddenly glad that there were two armed guards waiting outside. "Regardless, I know that this is not your fault my Lord. Every family has their...wayward sons."

Ser Brynden glanced at his brother then and his stern face grew even sterner when a frown crossed over his features, he said nothing to his brother's words but he was clearly not happy though Lord Hoster paid no mind and carried on. "Regardless, we must move on as we must. Lord Brandon may have fled, but his heir grows in my sweet Catelyn. They will of course be the heir to Winterfell, and it's lord or lady when they come of age with one of your sons serving as Lord Protector of-"

"No." In the silence that followed his Lord Father's words, Ned was sure that the sound of a pin dropping would be as loud as a wardrum. Lord Rickard leaned forward and crossed his arms in front of him as he stared at Lord Hoster, who's calm mask looked like it was very close to slipping. "Your child will not be my heir, nor the heir to Winterfell. I am not leaving it in the hands of a babe, even with your generous offer to have one of my sons serve as Lord Protector."

At that moment, Lady Catelyn stood up and fold her hands back on to her belly as she stared down at Lord Rickard. "My Lord, I beg of you. I was once your Gooddaughter and I am still carrying you son's child, your grandchild. You can not truly wish for them to be set aside, to be left with nothing simply because their father committed a dishonourable act."

"That is not the reason why my Lady, your wedding to Brandon was not well loved by my bannermen. At many a feast, I heard the whispers. Why had Lord Rickard betrothed his heir to a southron woman, were none of the North's fine daughters good enough for him. From Moat Calin to Last Heath, White Harbour to Torrhen's Square, my banners bristled at what they see as an insult. Much the same was repeated when the union of my Ned to the Princess Elia was made known."

"And now, Brandon has fled and you and your Lord Father would try and make a southron babe that is not even born yet, heir to Winterfell? The people of the North would not stand for it and I am inclined to agree with them. One of my sons would be Lord Protector, no doubt about that, but you would remain and raise him as if your right as a Mother, to plead loyalty to Tully instead of Stark. I cannot have that, a Lord of Winterfell must be a Lord of the North, a son of Winter."

"Of course, that is only if he is a son. The child you might bare might be a daughter, an equal chance either way after all. Many of my Lord Bannermen might be more favourable to that, after all if you birth a daughter and that daughter grows to be Lady of Winterfell then she would need to wed a man, to birth her own children to be heirs and to help her hold the North. And Winterfell and the lands of my forefathers would pass from House Stark, to the house of another. Northmen are loyal, but never think that means they are such fools to overlook such a chance."

"But even then, that is only working on the assumption that you would betroth her to the son of a Northern House, what happens if you decide that the best match would be to a son of the Riverlands? I do not think you would be such a fool as to do that my Lady, but it is still a risk that I cannot take." He sighed then and shook his head. "And that is assuming many things, that the child will be born at all, it is still early yet, that the child will be born living, that the child won't die in it's crib. No, I can not take these chances."

Catelyn Tully's eyes shinned with tears and Ned couldn't help the surge of sorrow he felt for her as he watched her stand there, her shoulders and hands shaking slightly. Even so, she would not let her tears fall and the sorrow that Ned was feeling for her was joined with a sense of admiration as well. "So, that is to be my fate my Lord? Left with nothing, my child to be little better than a bastard? I cannot believe that you would think that right or fair or just."

"Your child will always have a place here my Lady, not as it's heir perhaps but as a Stark. Take the child back with you to Riverrun once Winter has ended, send them back to use. As a squire or a ward or whatever we happen to see fit. A future will be found for them, and they will be provided for. You have my word on that." That did not seem to sooth Lady Cateltyn, nor her Father who began to draw to his feet.

"Rickard, if you think that I am going to suffer this then you are very much mistaken." Lord Hoster practically spat the words as his brother joined him on his feet, not as angry as his brother appeared to be at first glance but he was certainly not at all happy either.

"Ben, Lya. I want you both to go and tell the cooks that we will not have any need for the further courses, have the leftovers spread among the castle servants and the people of Winter's Town." Ned made sure that he would give his thanks to the older gods later that night when his brother and sister but seemed to sense that it would not be for the best to argue and scurried out of the room as quickly as they could, thought Lyanna did cast a look back briefly before she stepped through the door.

Ser Brynden stepped forward and place his hand on Lady Catelyn's shoulder, and when he spoke his tone reminded Ned of his grandfather. "Cat, you look tired. Why don't you go and lie down, the babe will need it's rest and it won't do for you to be upset. Go and lie down and we will come and find you later." For a moment, Catelyn looked like she was about to argue but the moment passed and she nodded, her uncle pressed a kiss to her forehead and she left the room.

Meaning that all that was left was Ned, his Lord Father, Lord Hoster and Ser Brynden and none of the men looked happy. It was Lord Hoster who finally broke the silence. "I don't know, what it is your thinking of pulling here Rickard, but I warn you. It will not work the way that you think it will, I will not allow my Daughter to be dragged all this way, to be humiliated and insulted with a babe in the belly when you're bastard of a son ran off with a Dornish slut and her whelp."

"And I warn you, Hoster. I will not be threatened and I will not allow House Stark to fall into nothing, to have our lands stolen away from us. What my son did was unforgivable, and I have stripped him of his status as my heir to my lands and titles as well as any claim to Winterfell, he has nothing now aside from the Lady Ashara."

"And what does my daughter have, other than a child that is little better than a bastard? Despoiled, that is what she is now. I cannot make another match for her as she is, she will left in Riverrun as an old maid. A spinster." Hoster slammed his hands down on the table as he stared at Rickard, rage woven into every single inch of his fact. "My little Cat is dear to me, I will not let her suffer that."

"I do not intend to let her, Lady Catelyn is a victim in all of this and I do not intend to let what has happened to her go unanswered or indeed unpaid back."

"Then we are in agreement, Lady Catelyn will marry your Benjen and he will be made the heir to Winterfell." Ned wasn't sure who was more dumbfounded by the Lord of the Trident's words, His Father or the Riverlord's brother. "It is not a perfect solution to be sure, if things were different then I would suggest that she marry your Ned, the law states that he is the new heir if Brandon is disinherited but he is already wed and his union has brought forth children, so his marriage to Princess Elia can not be annulled."

Ned had never really stopped and thought what it meant if Brandon was disinherited before now, it mean that he was the heir of Winterfell. That he was going to be the Lord of Winterfell someday, he honestly didn't think that he had ever heard of something more terrifying than that. Winterfell was always meant to be for Brandon, how could he take that from him? But then, if what Lord Hoster wanted happened then it would seem that he did not need too worry about it.

His Lord Father, did not look phased. "No you're right my Lord, it cannot. But I do not intend to wed her to Benjen. He is too young and when he will be betrothed, it will be to a Northern girl to ensure to my Lord Bannermen that they are not forgotten. However, you are well aware that matters in the Vale are not settled as of yet when it comes to inheritance? Jon Arryn's heir is his nephew, Elbert Arryn he needs a bride and I am sure that if the child is kept out of sight, that a union between the great houses of the Riverlands and the Vale will not be a unsubstantial one."

"Perhaps, or maybe I will take my grievances to the King." The threat, both the spoken one and the one that was not were not subtle, but they hung in the air. "You forget that I am the closest to the capital, I have friends and many of them speak about the anger he bears for you and for Lord Tywin, much and more he would be so interested to learn."

His Father pushed his chair back and stood up, the two great lords staring at one another. "I don't doubt that he would, though of course for all the King is mad he is not a fool. He will wonder how you came by this information, if you tell him true then he will burn you alive and if you lie to him and he suspects, he will burn you alive and If I am dragged before him to be burnt, I shall have nothing to hide and he will burn you alive."

They stared at each for a moment that seemed to drag on into forever before Lord Hoster scuffed and stepped back. "Very well then, that seems to be the end of it. But don't imagine that I will forget this Rickard. I assume that we can trouble you for a bed for the night before we ride back home on the morrow."

"Of course you may stay the night, Hoster." Lord Tully scoffed and that seemed to be the end of it once he and his brother had left and Ned had the sudden desire for the largest pitcher of ale that men could carry.

"What just happened, exactly? What has been happening, none of it has made any sense!"

His Father stared at him in that way that made him feel like he was a little boy once again and that he was about to be in trouble. "I am not entire sure how much Doran told you, but first and foremost you have to understand that I love your Brother more than anything except for you and Ben and Lya, before I go any further do you understand that?"

Ned didn't know what he could say to that, so he simply nodded. "For all that I love your Brother, and I do. I know what he was, if he had not grown up by now then he is not going too. But what choice did I have, I would not and could not kill him lest I rip my heart in two and be cursed as a kinslayer, nor did I have any mechanism to legitimately disinherit him for someone more suited. So, I created one."

"To be sure, this was not planned since the beginning. Prince Doran certainly intended to improve his sister's prospects, which was why he sent Ashara and Lauryn with her. And yes, I know who Lauryn was the moment that I looked at her. I know a Stark when I see one, the girl was Brandon's blood and what Prince Doran had intended became obvious to me. I sent a Raven to Sunspear, letting him know that I knew and that luckily for him, it would work out best for the both of us."

"I kept close eyes, maids and wet nurses and stable boys would bring me word of what was happening between them, of the conversations that they were having. I lightened the guard on the walls of Winterfell when it became clear to me that Brandon was going to make his move and the gate that he slipped out of was left unguarded for a reason, Brandon didn't get away. I let him go."

"So...I could be your heir instead?" Ned let out a breath and closed his eyes as he tried to understand any of it, and found that even with all he said he could not. "You risked war with the Riverlands, just for that?"

"Not at all, many in our little alliance were worried about the power that Hoster was gaining. Catelyn married to your brother, himself Lord of Riverrun and Lady Lyse trying to seek a betrothal to Ser Jaime. We couldn't have that, so we decided to clip his claws. Some would say that a match to the Arryns of the Vale is better than the Starks, but Jon Arryn is your foster Father and Elbert is your friend, they are more with us than with Hoster and he knows that. But he want's a match for Catelyn and he will take that if it is offered. She is spoiled goods now, after all I am sad to say."

"And at any rate, he knows he has nothing. He can not go to the king, for doing so and unveiling us would mean that he would have to confess his own part. King Aerys is not the most forgiving of men, and he does deliver kind and merciful punishments. Hoster had chosen his side, and right now he knows it. When worst comes to worst, he will side with us. And if he does not, we will deal with that when it comes. At any rate, we will not by having war with the Riverlands today."

Ned didn't think he had ever felt so tired in his entire life and it felt as though someone was swinging a warhammer around in his head, trying to crack his skull open like Lord Wyman had done with those crab legs to suck on the tasty flesh below the red shell. "Father, I don't-I don't want to be the heir to Winterfell, it's a honour but it's not one I want. It's Brandon's right, it's meant for him."

His Father's gaze softened then, and he remembered a time when he had ran to him after some stable boys had mocked him for his too long face. Mother would ever have been his first choice but her time with Lya had been drawing near and thus in his desperation he had run to Father instead, who had held him and told him that it was alright to be hurt, to be scared but never to run. Starks didn't run.

"I know you didn't want it, but this is your duty now. And Starks have always done their duty Ned, you can not be any different when it comes to this. I will leave you to your thoughts, go and see your wife. There is much and more that needs to be done." And with that, Ned was left alone with only the slowly crackling fire to fill the silence.

After some time has passed, he left the room and began to make his way through the stone corridors of Winterfell until he found his way to Elia's chamber, it was one of the warmest in the castle but even so she was bundled in furs and a fire was burning in the heath. But for once, Ned found that he did not mind at all. He closed the door behind him and went over to the bed, crawling up so he would be next to her.

Elia was roused when he pressed a kiss to her cheek, she hummed when she saw him but his uncertainty must have been showing on his face because her eyes narrowed in concern and she tried to sit up. "Ned, what is? What's happened? Is Lord Hoster here? Has he done something?" She swallowed painfully then, her smaller hands finding his. "Is it to be war?"

"No, my love. There will be no war, not yet at least." He kissed the top of her forehead and laid her back down and rested his own head against his pillow, staring into her black eyes. "Let's just...forget, for a bit. Let's just dream, I will tell you all in the morning." Elia looked like she wanted to ask more, but she clearly thought better of it as she nodded and then wrapped her arms around his, resting her head on his chest.

Ned kissed the top of his wife's head, closed his eyes and held her close and fell into darkness, enjoying the temporary peace that it would give him. Though he did not doubt it would be the only peace that he would know.

End of Chapter Fifty-Five.

* * *

 **And breath.**

 **Okay, so quite a bit came to head in this chapter and I think that's reflected in how long this one war, I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Interestingly, one of my favourite characters in this story to write for so far is in fact Lord Rickard, I am considering actually writing a P.O.V chapter for him but I am not actually sure about that yet.**

 **Some might have noticed that Elia wasn't as strongly featured in this, mainly because there are a lot of Elia chapters in here more than there are chapters focusing on Ned and I wanted to sort of readdress the balance, most of Winterfell is told from Ned's P.O.V for example but Elia is a major P.O.V character as well and she appears more in other peoples chapters than Ned does.**

 **Anywho, as I said before I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and would please leave a review, a follow and a favourite. Constructive Criticism is always welcome.**

 **With much love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	56. Chapter 56

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Six

Rhaegar traced the drawing of Riverrun on the map with his finger, his mind lost to his thoughts. It wasn't all that far away when you actually thought about it, if he had a strong and fast horse, wore light armour and kept the stops he would need to make to a bare minimum then he could be at the castle in around twenty days, maybe even slightly less if he rode at night as well.

He didn't know how large a distance it was between Riverrun and Winterfell, the Neck was a dense bog that by itself could take days to pass through simply by following the causeway. There were quicker routes but they could only be followed by foot and only the Crannogmen knew of them. One wrong step and you would find yourself breathing mud, and the Crannogmen were well known to not be friendly to southerners.

Which meant that Lord Hoster would have no other choice but to take the causeway if he and the men he had taken with him were to reach the North. Two hundred men, if the word his father had received from Lord Walder was accurate, was not a small host by any means but not enough to truly threaten a great seat such as Winterfell, if that truly was Lord Hoster's intention.

When news of the host moving through the Riverlands had reached them, his Father had been both furious and terrified, he had been shrieking in the small council about treachery and bare faced, naked villainy and how he would have both Lord Hoster and Lord Rickard flogged naked through the streets before skinning them in front of the Red Keep before finally giving them over to the Pyromancers to let them both be bathed in green flames.

That rage, the Dragon within, had consumed his Father and for a moment Rhaegar had been terrified what his Father would do, but then the Spider had descended down from his web and whispered soothing secrets into the King's ear and all so suddenly his mood had brightened, as though nothing had ever been wrong in the first place.

The Spider had always been a problem, but there was naught that Rhaegar could do about him at the moment. He was good at what he did, none could deny that but he was clearly on his Father's side. Whatever he had told him to calm him so, Rhaegar had no idea what it was and when he asked Varys, his Father ordered him to hold his tongue or he would lose it.

Rhaegar had no hint as to what Lord Hoster's intentions were, but if he had gone to pledge his strength to Winterfell then all was lost. Any chance of winning Winterfell and Riverrun to his side, to place him on the throne, was lost. His life more than likely along with it, by themselves the North and the Riverlands weren't enough to dispose them but he doubted that it would just be them who stood against them.

His finger drifted south and south and south again and he traced it around the shape of Dorne, if he closed his eyes he could almost hear the vipers hissing in their rage. What his Father had done had been unforgivable and beyond insulting, Prince Doran would not forgive nor forget it and Prince Oberyn would want bloody vengeance if he hadn't misjudged the sort of man he was.

The wolves were at there front and the vipers were at there back, war would tear the realm apart and as it was taking shape now, Rhaegar could think of no way how to stop it. He wasn't entirely sure who would be fighting for who in the end, but the kingdoms would be against one another. That he knew well enough, and it would make them weaker to face what was going to come.

It was so frustrating, that none of them could understand. That none of them could see it and if he tried to make them, then they would all think that he was mad, as mad as his Father was. The gods had set on to him a terrible burden, perhaps not to be the prince that was promised himself but to ensure that the prince would come and he would have his sisters at either side of him.

Rhaegar heaved another sigh and then stepped away from the map before turning and walking over to the shelves which held a collection of dusty old tomes and scrolls held securely in copper tubes. He picked up one of the tubes and carried it over to the table, he placed it gently down and moved the cheese and the grapes he had been eating earlier to another surface before he unscrewed the lid and retrieved the most precious scroll from inside, the one that had changed his life.

He knew the words by now as he knew the back of his hand, how many nights had he stayed up to ready the same letters over and over again by the light of a candle, of dozens of candles in point of fact. There had been plenty of nights when he had simply forgotten to sleep and turned up to his training sessions with Ser Willem Darry, rubbing at his eyes and yawning. But he had never missed a one, no matter how tired he grew or indeed how much he hated them.

And even when he had realised that the prince was not going to be him, he still trained. There would be wars he needed to fight and his son would need to be trained to be the strongest warrior that he could be and thus that duty would fall on to Rhaegar himself. His son would need to be Aegon come again, to unite all Seven Kingdoms to fight off the coming darkness.

But Aegon had not united the Seven Kingdoms willingly, nor to fight off anything. Aegon had seen the Kingdoms, separate and strong but also weak in their isolation from one another, and had wanted. He had dragons as well, thus took them. There were no more dragons, they had died in this city, falling sick and growing stunted.

He sometimes wondered if he was chasing a fool's errand, the prophecy could be wrong, mistranslated, a story. He could be mad, just less violently so than his Father. It was in the blood, and no matter which side the coin landed, the other side was always there.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear the first round of knocks on his door, whoever stood on the other side of it had to called out to him in order to get his attention along with knocking. Rhaegar quickly placed the scroll back in the tube, fixed the lid back on and carried it back over to the shelf before making his way over to the door and opening it.

On the other side was a herald, his face was pale and his chest was heaving clearly from having to run so fast from wherever he had come from. "My prince, please pardon the interruption but I've come to bring word that the Princess Cersei has gone into labour, your mother is attending to her now with several midwives as well as Grand Maester Pycelle. The King has been informed as well of course and the Grand Maester would like you to know that he does not believe that it will be long before the child is born."

And there it was, the time had come at last as it was always going to. He said nothing and simply gave the herald a silent nod before he turned and walked back inside his chambers, his mind racing as he tried to fit it all into his head. If the prophecy was right, and it was because it had to be, then he would have a daughter this night. The prince would be the next to come, first Rhaenys, then Aegon and then finally Visenya.

It was how it had to be, and naught could be done to change it. Not now, perhaps not ever. The prophecy had given him purpose, and he would see that purpose fulfilled. So it was written and so it would be.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the Herald clearing his through, Rhaegar turned and saw that his door had not been closed and the Herald was still there. "Forgive me my prince, but the Queen wished for me to inform you that the Princess Cersei seemed quite distressed and that she was asking for you to come to her, if you would."

Rhaegar couldn't hide his frown as he considered the herald's words, traditionally the husband would wait outside of the birthing chamber and when it came to a prince, he would have to wait until he was summoned to know that he had become a Father. But the thought of Cersei going through it without him, and the fact that this was enough to distress his strong willed wife, who was as much a lioness as only a Lannister could be.

But he had his princely duties of his own to attend too, things that had to be done and his trials had to be his own to face as Cersei had to face her owns. "I think not, you will be kind enough to bring me word when the child is born I trust?" The herald nodded, wise enough to not show any approval or disapproval either way. "Has word been sent to the king?"

"Yes my prince, his Grace the King commanded us to bring word to him first when the Princess Cersei began to give birth." Rhaegar frowned, he wasn't surprised but it did irritate him a bit. He wasn't sure why his Father would order such a thing in the first place, other than simply to irritate him. His Father was ever worried about treason, and yet he did little to gain people's love and loyalty.

"I see, thank you. As I said, please come and inform me when the child is born." The herald nodded and left the room and Rhaegar was left on his own once again, it was nothing he wasn't used to. He had always been alone, no one had ever been able to truly reach him aside from his mother. He had always been separate, he had known what the future held and if he got to close to someone and the fates determined that they die, then it would be easier not to known them. Not to mourn them.

Death was a constant companion, a shadow that had been following him since the day he was born when he was born in the cinders of Summerhall. Death would be waiting for the three heads of the Dragon as well. It was the only way that it could end, heroes did not get to live in the light and see the world that they had worn. Heroes were born to die.

He needed to get out, he needed some air. Any other man would be thrilled to know that in so short a time he would be a Father. But Rhaegar was never like most men, it had ever been a blessing and a curse in equal measure. He turned on his feet and made his way back over to his desk and retrieved a small bit of parchment paper from within the desk, dipped his quill into the ink pot and wrote a single sentence on top of the parchment and then left his solar.

There was a single alcove in the Red Keep that looked no different to any of the others, the only thing that made it different was a single loose stone and only a few people who all knew one another knew that it was there. Once Rhaegar was certain that no one was there to see him, he quickly removed the stone, placed the parchment inside of it and then replaced the stone.

From there, Rhaegar went to the godswood. Their was no great weirwood tree, but there were a great oak which served as the heart tree in the centre of an acre of elm, black cottonwood and alder trees. He had never liked it here, there was always a sense that something was watching him even though he knew that it was only the crows.

But there were no walls here, no tight gaps or alcoves where someone could hide and overhear something that they shouldn't. Birds rested on the branches, spiders threaded their webs but all of the birds big and little had feathers and all of the spiders had eight legs. If there was any place that was beyond the reach of Varys's web, then it was here. Or at the very least, that was what he had to hope or else all was lost and every little insult that his Father was throwing him was not simply cruelty born out of madness, or they were simply spices to the pot for when his Father called for his head.

The sound of footfalls and branches snapping and dead leaves being crushed under foot drew his attention and when he turned, he saw a man dressed all in brown. A brown wool shirt, brown trousers of roughspun and brown boots with a brown cloak with a hood that covered his face. The man strode forward and feel to his knees at the side of Rhaegar, gazing up into the face of the heart tree. "You asked for me, my prince?" The man asked as he pulled his hood back, revealing tan skin, violet eyes and black hair.

"Yes, thank you for coming Arthur." If there was anyone in the Red Keep that he trusted more than his Mother or Jon Connington, then it was Arthur Dayne. They had been friends for a long time and it was Arthur who had truly been the one to help him see how far his Father had actually fallen. "What news do you have of my Father this night?"

"Much the same as most other nights, he mutters to himself, talks to someone who is not there and whispers of treason and villainy, whatever magic words that the eunuch whispered into his ear would seem to have worn off." Arthur turned to look at him. "I know you won't listen to me my friend, but I still have to try. I know Jon already has, you are running out of time and whatever has happened between Lord Hoster and Lord Rickard is simply making it worse. It feels as though I am stuck in a room with pots of wildfire with a lit touch, I am waiting for the flames to consume me I simply do not know when they will come."

"I am simply waiting for the right moment-

"The right moment might have already come and gone, the right moment was when Elia was humiliated by your father and you would call on the North and Dorne to fight for you, the right moment was when the High Septon was burned by all the lords and ladies of court and you would call on all the most pious lords to your banner, the right moment was when you married the Lannister girl and would have all the strength of Casterly Rock behind you."

Rhaegar sighed and bent his head, his silver hair falling all around his face like a veil. It had been growing so long as of late, he had been neglecting his barber but his wife had said she liked it and thus he had seen no reason to have it cut as of yet. "If I rise up in rebellion, then war will come and thousands upon thousands will did. Perhaps more, numbers that turn my knees to jelly as I try and comprehend them."

"War will come, it's already coming. Lord Tywin sees that as well, why do you think he sent his son, his brother and his sister to Riverrun? To sample Lord Hoster's fresh trout pie? Lord Tywin's keeping all his options open, a man like him...the death of his daughter will surely be regrettable, but do you think he wouldn't sacrifice her in an instant if it meant keep his family surviving? I don't."

He knew that Arthur was right, if he lost Lord Tywin then he lost the only true ally he had at the moment who could be of any actual threat to his father and he could not let that happen. If they all rallied together with the intent to kill all of them, to put someone else on the throne then all would be lost. It had to be him, he had to rule. Not out of want for the ugly old iron chair, but out of duty, out of destiny. It must be him to rule, it had to be him.

And yet for all of that, he could not find it in him to take the final step, to plunge himself off of the cliff, to give himself to destiny and see if he could grow wings and open his eyes. "He's my father, Arthur. My king, I am sworn to obey him in all the things that I do. I loved him once, I adored him. I worshiped the ground he walked on and I wanted to be him. How can I fight him?"

Arthur's eyes did not soften, his mouth did not become any less firm. When he spoke, he spoke with simple, honest truth. Rhaegar had come to expect nothing more from him after all of this time. "He's your father, he is also a monster. He is the king, he is also a madman. You are sworn to obey him, I am sworn to that and more. I am sworn to keep his secrets, protect his life and give mine for his if I need too. We commit treason simply be speaking of this, your father has every right to call for our heads. If you simply mean to keep talking, tell me so and we shall leave this here."

Rhaegar let out another sigh and brought his hand up to rub at his eyes for a moment before he gave a heavy, slow nod. "You are right, the time is coming I promise you Arthur. It won't be long now I swear to you, but all has to be prepared before I do anything else. Just please, just wait a bit longer. Do not abandoned me my friend, I can not do this without you."

Arthur stared at him for a long moment, but he eventually gave him a nod of his own. Rhaegar let out another sigh, this one of relief and gratitude. "Thank you Arthur, truly. Has my Father spoken about filling the spot in the kingsguard, has he any ideas as to who it will be?"

"None as of yet, Lord Command Hightower is writing up a list of suitable recommendations but even then, the king might just appoint a Pyromancer to fill the spot." It would certainly not surprise him at all, to say the very least. How much longer would it be till even the sycophants his father had already surrended himself with no longer pleased him and the alchemists were in every corner of the Red Keep? It was a thought that oft kept him awake at night.

There were a few other matters to discuss, but they seemed to fly past. Arthur left the godswood first, Rhaegar closed his eyes and counted to one hundred and then got to his feet and started to make his way back to his solar.

Once he had made it back, the herald came running up to him, panting for his breath. "My prince, forgive me." The herald spoke as he tried to catch his breath. Once he had done so, he looked up at Rhaegar. "The Princess Cersei has given birth my prince, you are the Father to a daughter."

Any other man might have broken down in tears of joy, shouted out his delight or even cursed the gods for his misfortune for not granting him a son. But not Rhaegar, no, Rhaegar simply smiled at the news. He had already known, he had always known. Fate was like a river, and they were always following it's path. He nodded and dismissed the herald as he made his way to the birthing chamber.

Grand Maester Pycelle was speaking intently with one of the midwives before he noticed that Rhaegar was there, he dismissed the midwife with a sharp word and the woman left the room carrying a chamber pot. "Congratulations are in order, my Prince. The child was born healthy, screaming at the top of her lungs and Princess Cersei suffered through her task admirably. She is resting now, uh, my prince? Forgive me for perhaps speaking out of turn, but when the Princess was told to give the babe to the wet nurse, she screamed at her to go away and has been nursing the child herself. If you did not know my Prince, nursing a child makes it more difficult for the seed to be planted."

He did in fact know that, and it made him frown ever so slightly. He needed to have the three heads as soon as possible after all but at the same time, there would surely need to be some years between them? He couldn't push Cersei too much after all. He cleared his throat. "I see Grand Maester, I will speak to my wife and make sure she understands her duty. But even so, I think tonight shouldn't be much of a problem."

The Grand Maester bobbed his head and then departed, making mention of himself feeling weary. Rhaegar moved towards the door and opened it, waking inside the chamber.

Cersei looked paler than normal, and tired as well, but that could only be expected after her trial. In her arms was held a small bundle, his wife held it like it was the most precious thing in the world which to be sure, it was. Cersei glanced up from looking down at the bundle, and her joyful yet tired smile was replaced with a frown as she looked back down at the babe and muttered. "I asked you to come to me, I wanted you with me."

"I could not be, it was not my place and you did you duty perfectly." Rhaegar spoke softly as he walked forward and sat on the side of the bed, his hand coming up to cup Cersei's cheek. At the touch, his wife's resistance fell away and she relaxed into the touch. He glanced back down at the babe and smiled slightly once again at the sight of her.

She was a little thing, but not so little to be of concern. Her noise was dainty and her cheeks were chubby, and atop her head were a few wisps of golden hair. "She's beautiful, thank you my love."

"Then...you are pleased then?" Cersei spoke, perhaps for the first time that he had known her she sounded as though she was unsure. She shifted under the covers of the bed and adjusted the babe so she was holding her closer to her chest. "You do not mind that she is a girl?"

"Of course I do not, she is my daughter and I love her." He would be more displeased if she had not been a girl. She had to be a girl, she had to be Rhaenys, she must be Rhaenys.

His wife smiled, brighter than the sun. "I thought that we might call her Myrcella, or perhaps Joanna for my mother or even Genna for my aunt. Jenye, for my Father's mother."

"She will be Rhaenys, that will be her name." He made sure that when he spoke, there was just a note of firmness in it. Cersei needed to know that he would not be moved when it came to that. Cersei frowned slightly but said nothing else.

The door to the chamber opened, and his Mother strode in with Viserys clinging to her hand. "I pray you will not mind us, but Viserys wished to see the new babe. But if you are too tired my dear, we would understand completely."

"No, your Grace. Please come in." Cersei spoke and once he heard that he was not being sent away, Viserys broke free from his mother and ran over to the bed and rapidly climbed on top of it despite their Mother giving him a warning about being careful not to fall.

Viserys stared down at the babe for a few moments before he pouted and let out a groan, the same sort that Rhaegar was used to hearing when his little brother had been told that yes, he did need to eat all of his carrots before he could have his pudding. "She's not a dragon."

"Viserys!" His mother cried and Viserys flinched, not used to being talked to so harshly by their Mother.

"Do not be so harsh on the boy Rhaella, he might be right." The voice sent a shiver down his spine and when Rhaegar turned his head and saw his father standing in the doorway, Ser Lewyn and Ser Barristan standing behind him like spectres in the white armour. "In the end, babes can be wiser than all of us."

The King walked through the room, each step he took towards the bedside seemed to take an eternity. He stood at the side of it and then stared down at the babe before he smirked cruelly, his eyes were dark. "She smells like a lion."

And just like that, he was gone with his mother and Viserys following after him when the King commanded them to follow him. Cersei said nothing as she continued to stare straight forward, holding the babe somehow even closer. Rhaegar found her hand and held it.

Yes, it wouldn't be long now.

End of Chapter Fifty-Six

* * *

 **Another chapter done and dusted and Cersei finally gave birth, some people asked if the change to the prophecy I mentioned meant that Cersei wouldn't bear any living children. Well, this chapter clearly puts that theory to bed.**

 **Anyway, as always I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter, and you would consider leaving a follow, a favourite and a review.**

 **With much love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	57. Chapter 57

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Seven

Winterfell seemed different, but she wasn't exactly sure how. It seemed almost a little bigger than it had been before, but she knew that was silly. The castle was simply a building hewn from stone, it had not suddenly grown overnight. But even with that in mind it still seemed as though the castle had changed somehow but try as she might, Elia still somehow could not put her finger on exactly what it was.

At first she thought that it was simply due to the fact that Brandon and Ashara and Lauryn weren't in the castle anymore, and she did miss them terribly. Well, she missed Ashara and Lauryn terribly at any rate but in truth that didn't seem to be what it was, for all that she missed them she didn't consider her best friend or her daughter to be so intimately tied with the seat of House Stark for their absence to truly be able too make the great old castle seem any different.

The more she thought about it however, the more the answer became ever more so obvious. Winterfell seemed different to her now because she herself was different, a different status. When she had first come here, so very long ago now after so much had happened that it had almost seemed to have happened in a different life, she had come to be wed to a second son that would inherit nothing and whose fortunes would be dependent on the generosity of his Father and of his brother.

But now that Brandon was gone, abandoning his rights, that meant that her husband now the heir to Winterfell, the future Lord of the great castle and of House Stark itself and that meant that Elia was to be Winterfell's lady as well. It had changed how the castle had looked for her, how it felt. The only problem was, she wasn't sure if she liked it or not yet.

Still, Elia was never one to turn away from her duty and she did not deny that her fortunes were well aligned as of late, wed to the future lord of one of the Great Houses of Westeros and she had already born him not just one son, but two to ensure that the line was continued. There were many who would asked to be even a third so fortune as she was and Elia was not blind to that fact.

So, whatever her personal feelings, Elia threw herself into the role that it seemed that the gods had in mind for her to play. Every morn she would wake and bathe and summon her maids to dress her before she would find the account books of Winterfell, to see how much coin was being spent in a moon's turn, how much barley, oats and rye was being harvested from the fields as well as hardy winter vegetables such as onions and leeks, how much meat was being brought back from hunts and how much was being salted down in the storerooms to ensure they would have enough food to last out the rest of the Winter.

As she worked on the books, the maid's would bring her food to help her break her fast. Winterfell's larders were deep and well stocked, they were not likely be forced to cut the throats of their horses and beginning butchering them this winter, but even so in order to ensure that they remained that way the portions had to be kept small, more often than not all she had was half a loaf of fresh bread, warm butter and a duck egg that had been soft boiled.

Once the books had been read over, she would collect them again and would go to find her good-sister. Lyanna's reading and her numbers had been much improved as of late, much as Elia might like to credit it most of it to her skill as an instructor, the truth of it was that Lyanna was simply quite smart when it came to this, once she got her head around a concept it did not take her long to be able to go through it.

That was not to say that there still wasn't some trouble with her skills, the girl could still not count pass sixty, her writing was atrocious to the point of barely being at all legible and during their lessons if there was some point that she got stuck with her temper could overcome her quickly and any attempt to get her to focus on what they needed to do surely became a fool's errand.

Still, for all of that, Elia couldn't deny she was proud of how fair the girl had come. And Lyanna would need these skills when she finally did marry Robert Baratheon and would be expected to run the household of Storm's End for her lord husband, Elia wasn't so sure in her skills in passing these lessons on to say for sure if she would be truly ready when the time came for her marriage to the storm lord, but at the same time from the little she knew of Robert from meeting him in the past and from Ned's stories about growing up with him in the Eyrie he didn't seem a man much accustomed to the fine details of ruling, if Lyanna was struggling that she had no doubt that her husband wouldn't mind her relying on the steward a little more heavily than most did.

When she wasn't with her good-sister, she spent most of her time either with her sons or with Old Nan. She was very fond of the old woman, much of her early life had been made up of sitting in the nursery of Sunspear, considered to ill to go outside and play with the older, stronger children, and being taken care of by a seemingly endless list of nurses, all of whom she had fond memories of.

The woman had an amazing amount of stories to tell, most were based around the North as that was the only land that Nan had ever truly known. There were few things that brightened her day more than when she was sitting with the other woman and listening to her tell her tales, her blind eyes almost shining with delight and mystery as she related another one.

But for all she had grown to love Old Nan, it could not compare to the love she had for her sons. Her sweet boys, they were growing so strong now and as they were growing older Elia could note all the little differences that she could see in them now. Mors was the younger of the two, and much bolder and stronger as well. He would grab at anything he could to try and pull himself to his feet so that he might try and walk, though so far he had only managed to take a single step before he tumbled to the ground.

Torrhen was the older and more reserved of the two babes, while Mors was content to squeal and shriek and sob out his misery when he was tired or hungry or had soiled his swaddling, Torrhen would simply whimper and seem content to stew in his misery until someone came to help him. He had not made any attempts to walk as of yet, but he had been making sounds with his mouth more and more as of late, if she had to guess then she imagined that Torrhen would be the one who would speak first of the two while Mors would be the one who would be fully able to walk on his own first.

Mors had a smile for everyone and would always reach up to be held, no matter who the person was. Torrhen hated anyone who was not her, he had taken time to even get used to Ned, he would kick and reach out for her when someone else dared tried to pick him. The two boys were night and day and she was beyond grateful that neither of them had seemed to fight with one another as of yet, she imagined that peace would not last long as they grew.

Even in appearance, despite being twins, they differed. Torrhen had her black hair atop his head that was as straight as his Father's and had grey eyes as well, Mors had her curls but they were the dark brown of his father's and his eyes were so dark a brown that were almost seemed to be black, just like her own. Where one son might have her nose, they would also have Eddard's smile. Night and day, both of them.

As their hair continued to grow out, Elia had found a pair of scissors and had taken to carefully cutting of a lock of hair from both of their heads. She twisted both locks together and placed them in a glass phial which she kept on her person, to always make sure that her sons, at least a part of them, were close to her and to her heart.

She would have dinner with her husband and his family in the great hall and then once all was eaten and all the plates were cleared away, she and Ned would go to their rooms. To talk about what had happened on their day, to sit together in silence and watch as the fire burned low in the hearth and often times they would simply work on their own things in silence, take comfort in simply one another's company.

One night in particular stood out in her mind, she had been sitting in a chair near to the fire, stitching one of her husband's shirts that had been torn in a sparing match he had in the yard earlier, while Ned had been writing letters at his desk. It had been quiet, comfortable and there were no need for any words to be spoken between them.

But then, Ned had spoken. "A raven came from King's Landing today, I meant to tell you earlier my Lady but I am afraid that in the middle of everything it slipped my mind."

Elia had frowned then, but her frown had nothing to do with her husband forgetting to tell her this earlier. No, her frown had been simply due to fear at what news the raven might have brought to them. Any news from King's Landing could only be bad, they were all waiting for the King to make his move and none of them knew what it would be.

Lord Hoster had taken Catelyn back home, pregnant now with a child that would be heir to nothing, and despite all of her good-father's best efforts to ease the insult and promises that Elia knew he would keep, it might well be too little and far, far too late. How many promises, and veiled threats that the King would not be a good friend to have and would probably have him burned alive if he did betray them to him regardless, her good-father made might not have been enough. Pride could oft overwhelm anyone's common sense.

She still remember the last time she had seen Catelyn, she had been dress all in widow's black and her face had been even paler than normal. Her red hair had been braided tightly behind her head and she had responded to her farewells with a simple tight nod before she walked over to the small wheelhouse that her Lord Father had brought for her and stepped inside of it. Elia could not blame her, or her Father, were she in their position, she would no doubt be angry as well.

But was Lord Hoster angry enough and prideful enough to betray his and Lord Stark's plotting to the king? Was that what the raven that had come from the capital was about? If it was so, then war could not be far behind it and she wondered what would have to happen now. For all she was angry, furious in point of fact, with Doran she knew that her brothers would never abandon her and Dorne and The North could not stand alone, and there was no guarantee that all the houses in both kingdoms would stand with them against the king anyway.

Thankfully, it seemed, that was not what the raven's message had been about at all. "It seems that the Princess Cersei has finally given birth, to a daughter who has been hailed as the Princess Rhaenys of House Targaryen, the king lets us know of his great joy and commands all royal houses to speak a prayer, to wish the princess good health and great fortune in the future."

A prayer for a princess was a much easier command to follow than a summon to the capital, if that command came then Elia wasn't sure what they would have done. If they had disobeyed it then they would have been seen as treasonous and the King would have that much more reason to declare them so and they would be that much closer to the war that seemed almost inevitable at this point but if they had followed such an order, then they would be in the King's clutches and the king would not be so much a fool as to let any of them go.

But they had been spared that and Elia gave her husband a smile at the news before she spoke. "Well then, the Iron Throne is secure. You northerners might be strange on insisting that a boy for some reason is more preferable but a child is still a child and the girl is heir to the throne to a son is born to Cersei and Rhaegar, which given how fond of her husband Princess Cersei seemed to be, I don't imagine that should take too long at all."

She turned her attention back down to Ned's shirt in her lap, making sure that she wasn't going over herself for a moment before she continued to stich silk back together. As she worked however, she had continued to speak. "Still, it is not a name I would choose for a daughter of mine. Another reason to the growing list of reasons that I am not glad I married Rhaegar, the fact I married a much better man is at the top."

Ned Stark would never blush, but Elia was more than determined to try her best to make him do so all the same. And while she had not managed to make his skin turn red, she had done enough to make that sheepish smile that she so loved appear instead and that was a more than satisfactory prize. "Thank you my lady, but what is your objection to the name? A Targaryen name for a Targaryen child is surely not so surprising?"

"It's not the fact that it's a Targaryen name, in truth. If I had a daughter with Rhaegar and he has wished to name her Alysanne or Rhaella or even Rhaenyra then I would have had no objection, though I could not say that any would be a name that I would choose. No, the issue would be the Targaryen in question. Few Dornish are fond of any of the three Targaryens who came to conquer us, but even fewer are fonder of Rhaenys."

"Why, specifically?" Ned asked, the letters he had been reading seeming to have been abandoned.

Elia had bite her lip then and placed the shirt she had been stitching aside for the moment. "You know what happened to the first Rhaenys, I assume?"

Ned nodded. "Yes, she was burning a Dornish castle and a bolt from scorpion got lucky and managed to hit her dragon in the eye. The dragon fell to the ground along with it's rider and both died in the fall."

"Well, yes that is some of it but there is more to it than that. You see, Rhaenys didn't die in that fall. She was injured, terribly so in point of fact to the point that she would likely never walk again, but she was in fact alive. Though, considering what happened to her next, death might have been far, far more preferable. I would have chosen it without a doubt."

"Rhaenys hadn't just been attacking any castle, she'd been attacking Hellholt, the seat of House Uller. There is a saying in Dorne, half the Ullers are half mad and the other half are worse. Rhaenys had burned their homes, their people, their sons and brothers and daughters and sisters with no distinction. The Targaryens live up to their name, they brought fire and blood."

"The Ullers moved her into their dungeon where...Well, I am sure you can guess what happened to her there. The Ullers have never lacked for creativity, but while they kept Rhaenys alive to torture her, news soon reached King Aegon and Visenya, and the Dragon's wroth fell on to Dorne. Over the next two years, every town and holdfast and keep and castle was burned at least once, only the shadow city and Sunspear itself was spared and no one really knows why. If I had to guess, I would say that they wanted to stir up resentment against us by the other lords."

"Whatever their reason, it worked. Dornishmen do not break or bow easily, the words of my house might as well be the words of Dorne itself. But after all these burnings, it was clear that the fight was starting to die. The Prince of Dorne sent his daughter to King's Landing with a letter to be handed straight to King Aegon. The princess did as she was bid, Aegon opened the letter and read it."

"No one knows what the letter said, as soon as Aegon read it he burned it, the most likely option is that it said that Rhaenys was alive and being tortured and they offered her a merciful death in exchange for Aegon to stop trying to conquer Dorne. Who can say for certain though, so much we do not know, so much that we only hear much later."

Elia sighed and looked up at her husband. "And that is why I would not name her Rhaenys, not just for burning thousands of my people, but of her fate. She died alone, afraid and in terrible pain far from those she loved. Such a name would surely bring bad fortune on to one who has the blood of Dorne in her veins."

Ned was quiet for awhile after that but that had not concerned her much, when her husband was thinking intently on something it could often seem like someone had replaced him with a statue so she had simply returned to her work. She had just finished the shirt and was folding it when Ned finally did speak. "They burned hundreds of thousands and conquered us, many and more might have wished to inflict cruelty on to all three of them. Still, if he knew that his sister was still alive, I wonder why Aegon didn't try to rescue her?"

"Who can say, as I told you, no one truly know what it was that the note said. That is simply the favourite guess in Dorne, if that is what it said it might simply be that Aegon knew his sister would never be whole again and if the war in Dorne continued then his sister and his love would only be forced to suffer worse and worse. He loved her very much, much more than Visenya if the stories can be believed, love makes us do strange things."

"It does indeed." Ned stood up from his chair then and walked over to her, kneeling in front of her and taking hold of one of her hands before bringing it up to his lips to press a kiss to the back of it before he looked up at her. "Leaving the horrors of the past in the past and putting the talk of misfortunate names aside for the moment, I have to ask, if we did have a daughter, what would you like to name her?"

The warmth that filled her at that moment had been the sort of warmth that only Ned could fill her with and she bent her head to press a kiss to the side of his mouth before her lips ghosted over to his ear. "I am not certain, I suppose that we would need a daughter to be on the way before I could truly start thinking much on that matter. Shall you help me husband?"

"Gladly." Ned had slid his hands underneath her to pick her up as their lips joined together, kissing one another deeply as Elia clung to him. Ned had carried her over to the bed then and had gladly set to his task.

When all was said and done and there was a sweet ache between her thighs, as much from Ned's enthusiasm for her as much due to the fact that he had managed to make her peak twice, Ned was laying on the bed and Elia had her head rested against her chest, her eyes shut as she simply relaxed with one hand on her stomach, dreaming of a little girl with her hair and colouring but with grey eyes as soft as mist.

The days in Winterfell after that night started to fall into something of a routine, she would get up and break her fast, see to the books, help Lyanna, meet and talk with some of the servants to ensure that they were well and that there was nothing that they needed, would spend time with Old Nan listening to her stories, would go and spend some time with her sons, then go and eat and then spend the rest of her night with her husband, some nights laying with him and some nights not.

There would every now and then be a little alteration, sometimes she would spend a little of her time with Benjen to make sure that the boy was well or she would go out to the stables to make sure that Swift Ash was eating well and was keeping warm from the harsh winter winds that had fallen down on to them as of late, they seemed unending.

But no, one day was much the same as any another. She would not deny that she had been feeling lonelier as of late, with Ashara gone there was truly no one that she could actually speak too. Well, of course she had Ned but there were things that she wanted to tell a friend, there were things Ned told to Robert that he would never speak about to her and she just wanted that as well, a friend.

She supposed that as the Lady of Winterfell she would need ladies around her, she had only brought Ashara with her because she was her best friend and in the end, she hadn't actually brought her. Doran had sent her with her, and the plot still made her furious at her older brother, she still had no idea how he could do something underhanded, so unfeeling, treating her and her friend and her daughter like they were nothing but checkers on a game board.

Elia took a breath to clear her head, she didn't want to think about that or Doran at the moment. Her head was filled with far too many conflicting thoughts and her heart heavy with too many emotions to truly be able to deal with any of it now.

Even if she wanted ladies around her, they wouldn't be able to make it to Winterfell in the dead of Winter so she would simply have to wait until Winter passed and Spring finally came and the snows thawed. But truly, who knew how long that would take? She had overheard some of the servants talking about how they didn't think that it would be much longer till Spring came, apparently they thought that it was slowly starting to get warmer but Elia couldn't say that she had noticed that. she had been for the north for awhile after all and she hadn't noticed it getting any warmer but she had decided to keep her trust in the northerners.

Life carried of, her children grew bigger and stronger, Mors took his first steps and Torrhen spoke his first word, calling her Mama and making her cry her heart out with joy. Lyanna's skill at numbers and reading was increasing with every single day that passed, Elia joked that if she kept this up then she could be the first master to be a woman which had made her good-sister sigh lament that if only she could.

Ned was ever more and more attentive to her, their nights of joining becoming more and more frequent as they were both set on having another babe and Elia had added praying to the Mother every day to the list of things that did each day. The days passed speedily, the snows at night were becoming rarer and rarer and the snow on the ground was less and less each and every day and the portions of food they could each have was growing more and more.

And then one day, her moon blood did not come. Her joy was only matched by her husband's they clung and tore at one another and then spent the rest of the night laying next to one another, Elia's back next to his chest while Ned's arms were around her middle, his hands resting on her still flat stomach. After the day, her portions had seemed to double as the maester spoke how eating more produced a much healthier babe, though Elia could not deny that she never wanted to eat mutton again for the rest of her life.

This baby would be born in Winterfell, she would make sure of that. The skies were blue and clear with a bright sun high up in the sky, not as warm as Dorne could be, not even close nor even as warm as King's Landing or the riverlands but warm enough that she could sit in the yard and enjoy the feeling of the sun on her skin.

The endless days, when any thought of the Mad King, of war and treason and death and destruction had left her mind, came to an end in the beginning of that spring when she was sitting in the nursery and watching as Torrhen and Mors played with a collection of wooden blocks that was being built higher and higher in a shape that might have been considered a castle to a babe's mind as she was working on a prayer wheel, something she had not ever made before but had been wanting to, keep both her sons safe as well as the babe the grew within her, as well as perhaps a tiny selfish prayer that the babe would be a girl.

The peace was broken when the door to the nursery opened and Ned walked in, she only had to glance at her husband's face to know that something was wrong. She set aside her prayer wheel, unfinished, and walked over to Ned. Leaning down to place one hand on the back of Torrhen's head as Mors, younger but bigger reached up for her hand. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Ned's face seemed to be carved from stone, his eyes which were normally the soft grey of mist that she loved so very much were now as hard as stone. "A raven came today, the King has sent out an invitation. To all the great houses and houses of note, he is holding a tourney and all true men must come and declare themselves his true and loyal men."

This was it. Elia swallowed. "What does your Father mean to do?"

"He says that the time is still not right, things aren't ready for him to move." Ned admitted with a heavy frown as he reached down to scoop up both of their sons in his arms. "He will not go, but we must. House Stark must be seen to be there, alongside our bannermen. I must go at least, as well as Lyanna and Benjen. Elia, you do not have too-"

"I am coming with you, there is to be no doubt of that but the children must remain here. I shall not risk them." Elia said before she reached across and pressed a kiss to both her son's heads, it wouldn't be long. They simply had to go and pander to the King for a little while, if all was played well then they could all be home in a short amount of time, all would be well.

It had to be.

Elia cleared her throat and tried to hold back her tears before she looked at her husband. "Where is the tourney to be held, King's Landing is a large city and the Red Keep is a large castle but it could not hold all the members of the great house, most of their bannermen as well as the knights, men at arms and servants that all would more than likely be bringing with them. If she understood her husband right, it would most likely be the largest and grandest tourney that the Seven Kingdoms had ever seen.

"No, it won't be in the capital."

Her husband almost looked, for lack of a better word, nervous. "Then where?"

"Harrenhal."

End of Chapter Fifty-Seven

* * *

 **Boom.**

 **Okay, so quite a bit to talk about here. Kay, so first of all for those who are confused this is what I would like to call a bridging chapter. Mainly, this is the chapter that is covering a time skip. I wanted a chapter such as these to be based around Elia and Ned as they are the core of this story and I also wanted to show Elia sort of adjusting into the role of the future lady of Winterfell. How much time has skipped? Quite a bit, in point of fact but we will get to that later.**

 **It's also important to see that both Mors and Torrhen are growing and are different from one another as they will both be much more important...much later, more about that...much later. Also yes, Elia is pregnant again and please feel free to suggest names both male and female.**

 **The Tourney of Harrenhal, it's one of the pivotal events of the Series and I personally hope we never see or read about it. It's something that is much more fun to have our own opinions and interpretations about it and who exactly was there during it and the next few chapters are going to be you all seeing my interpretation of it, I hope you will all like it!**

 **As always, please leave a review and a follow and favourite if you enjoyed and constructive criticism is always welcome.**

 **With much love and gratitude for my continued readers,**

 **DiscordantSymphony.**


	58. Chapter 58

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Eight.

The air was warm enough to tell that it was spring, but it still held a chill to it in the wind that made it clear that Winter had not been far behind them. The sun was hanging high in the sky and was bathing the royal train in a resplendent golden light. It was a golorious procession, knights dressed in bejewelled breast plates of rubies and emeralds and lapis lazuli with surcoats of a thousand different colours with different symbols on every one.

A hundred, hundred wheelhouses each containing dozens upon dozens of ladies were rolling along in the middle of the great train, behind them were food wyans carrying meats and fishes and birds and eggs and grains and fruits and sugars and all that would be needed for the tourney to come, serving men and men at arms were afoot but even they had been granted new and expensive finery to show the generosity and wealth of the lords to whom they were employed.

It was almost like something out of a song, though Cersei had long since learned the truth that all the songs were lies, and this was just the journey to the tourney and not the tourney itself. She was in the royal wheelhouse, sitting with her goodmother and her ladies in waiting. Cersei's own ladies and maids had been forced to ride in one of the other wheelhouses but that was of little concern to her, it's not as if she cared about any of them.

Nor in point of fact did she care about her goodmother or any of her ladies in waiting either, to be sure she could not say that as her goodmother was still the queen for the moment but she didn't like to think of her in that way, the sooner that her crown was on Cersei's head than the better she would feel. The words of her ladies mattered even less, at least the Queen had some wits about her but the same could not be said for her ladies who had all the wits and courage of old hens.

She would much rather be atop a horse, riding with the men and speaking to them and spending time with her husband. Rhaegar had looked so beautiful when she had seen him this morning, he had shorn his beard and had bound his silver hair back into a tight knot and his eyes had been almost glowing in the warm light of the sun and he had been dressed in a black breastplate with rubies made into the shape of the sigil of House Targaryen, the three headed dragon had looked so fearsome.

A soft whimper drew her out of her thoughts and all of her attention was soon consumed by a sweet little girl with golden hair and violet eyes that could only have come from her Father. Cersei hummed and reached out for her and picked Rhaenys up and brought her into her lap, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she held her tight. "Hush now my love, what is the matter? Hm? It cannot be that you are hungry, did I not feed you but an hour ago?"

She had felt many eyes on her when she had lifted her daughter to her breasts to feed her but Cersei did not care, she didn't care that according to Grand Maester Pycelle it meant that it would make it harder if not impossible for her to conceive another baby; neither she nor Rhaegar were old and Rhaenys was not even a year old yet, there would be plenty of time for her to bear him as many sons and daughters as he would wish.

Cersei sniffed the air and was greeted only by the smell of the sweet lilacs and lavender that was used to scent the air of the wheelhouse, nothing to suggest that her daughter had soiled herself and pressing her hand to the back of her forehead did not betray the presence of any temperature to her. Cersei was frowning as she glanced down to the floor of the wheelhouse but was smiling when she glanced back up at her teary eyed daughter. "Ah, I see then."

She stretched down and picked up the small stuffed doll in the shape of a kitten, two green buttons had been sewed on to the face in order to act as it's eyes and as soon as her daughter saw the little toy her tears stopped falling and she reached out for the doll and tried to grab it from her hands. Cersei grinned and bumped the doll against her daughter's nose, her grin growing wider as she heard Rhaenys giggle in delight.

She was such a sweet little thing and the only thing that never failed to bring a smile to Cersei's face, she already loved her more than she had ever loved anything more in the world that she had ever known. She would defend her rights for as long as she could, why should her daughter not be Queen in her own right if she was the best suited for the duty of it?

Cersei was so caught up in looking at her that she almost didn't hear the Queen calling her name to get her attention, Cersei made sure that her daughter was comfortably settled in her lap and then turned to look at the Queen. Queen Rhaella had chosen a heavy looking violet velvet gown with gold thread on the sleeves and around the hem of her skirts, a belt of pure white pearls encircled her waist and a golden chain with a large red ruby attached was around her neck, a hairnet studded with sapphires enclosed her long silver hair.

The Queen extended her hand and poked Rhaenys in her belly, her daughter let out a squeal of delight and then clung to her grandmother's finger and the Queen smiled brightly and Cersei did not think that she had ever seen her smile like that, at least not since the day that she and Rhaegar had returned from Dragonstone and she had learned that Cersei was carrying her grandchild or when Rhaenys had been born, but the woman's lips had not so much as twitched since then.

Not that Cersei could truly blame her, when she stopped and saw who she was actually married too. She had heard and seen enough in the Red Keep to know that the King was taking his rights fairly regularly and according to some of the Queen's maids it was like an animal had been attacking her in the night instead of her husband coming to visit her.

Cersei would have killed him by now, king or no. The Queen already had two sons after all, she had no more need of the King himself and she should have killed him the moment he had decided to lay a finger on her. But then. Queen Rhaella had always seemed to weak to be able to make the choice, so instead she choose to stay under the yoke of her husband, it was pathetic.

The Queen gently pulled her finger out of her granddaughter's grasp before pressing a kiss to the top of her head and then reclined back on to her pillows and looked up into Cersei's eyes. "You've done very well gooddaughter, she is a healthy and happy little thing and what more can one want in a child? Hm? You are more fortunate than I ever was, at least. Oh, I love my sons more than words could say and I would trade neither of them for anything in the world, but I would still wish for a daughter, even now?"

That was something that Cersei hadn't been able to understand, according to one of the maids in the Queen's service who Cersei had been able to pry information out of after giving her several gold dragons, the begining point of the King's ire was when Queen Rhaella's births had begun to result in stillbirths and miscarriages and that she understood to a point but the King had already had a son and when a healthy child that lived was born and it turned out to be another boy, the King had been said to be furious.

And that was what confused, surely any man would be simply satisfied with simply having a single son, more so if two, all men perfered having sons, they needed sons if they were to have their perfect heirs to inherit their seats as surely a girl was not suitable. So why was the King so enraged by the simple fact that he did not have a daughter?

At any rate, she did not know and if she was to be honest she simply did not care. She would deliver Rhaegar sons and daughters both and would give him no reason to be wroth with her. It occured to her then that perhaps it was time that she stopped feeding Rhaenys from her own breast if it meant that it would please Rhaegar more, most highborn ladies gave their children to wet nurses as soon as they were born if Cersei did the same that didn't mean that she did not love her daughter any less than she had when she fed her from her own breast.

Cersei stretched out and gently patted the top of the Queen's hand, she had to at least act as though she cared about her sadness. Rhaegar trusted his mother's opinion and he would speak to her at least once a day back when they were in the Red Keep, he had not been able to come and speak with her on their journey but that was simply to do with the fact that the King had been pushing the train to go as fast as possible, he wanted to reach Harrenhal as quickly as he could apprently.

"Worry not Your Grace, you are not an old woman and the King is not an old man. There is still plenty of time for the both of you to have another child, a daughter might not be so far away now." It wasn't a lie, neither the Queen or the King were that old. They both looked older than they were, but that was just how they looked. Neither was so old that it was impossible for either of them to have another child again, though it would be pushing it at this point.

Even if the Queen did happen to fall pregnant again, the chances of it being born alive or even being born were small. It was simply the truth but Cersei wasn't so much a fool to speak that outloud and so she settled for the sweeter lies. The Queen stared at her for a moment, she had her son's eyes Cersei realised, and then Rhaella slowly pulled her hand back and clasped them both together in front of her. "Thank you for your kind words, my dear. It shall not be long now till we are at Harrenhal."

An uncomfortable and thick silence fell on the wheelhouse then and Cersei decided then and there to keep her attention focused on her daughter for the rest of the journey, it didn't matter what the Queen thought of her at all. She would only be Queen for a little while longer, the King was a sick man and a long and tiring journey like this would surely only make that illness worse.

And once the King was dead, that would be the end of both him and Rhaella. Cersei could send the old woman off to Dragonstone to rot and die while Cersei would stay in the sunlight with her husband and her children and her crown on her head. All would be well, all would be well.

As the journey wore on, it started to get hotter and hotter in the wheelhouse and Cersei suddenly wanted nothing more than some lemonsweet with chunks of ice floating in it. Anything to deal with the heat, suddenly there were shouts from outside the wheelhouse and as she strained her ears to hear it, she realised that it was not shouting at all. It was cheering.

It was a very short ride after that, the road the wheelhouse was riding on dipped down then climbed up before evening out for the rest of the way. It came to a stop then and the door to the wheelhouse was opened by a serving man and the Queen was helped out first before a hand was extended to help Cersei out as well.

Harrenhal was as massive as all the stories said, that was the first thing she noticed. In truth this was the first time she had truly seen the castle as they had not passed the castle when she, her brother and all of their servants had set off from Casterly Rock and it did not disappoint.

It looked like it was a castle built for the biggest of giants, the towers stretched so far up into the sky that it hurt her neck to tilt her head back to look and even then she couldn't see top of the towers. The yard they had found themselves in looked like it could hold a party five times the size of their own and all of those people would still not have filled it.

The buildings inside the great curtain walls were massive as well, made of the same black stone as the walls. The kitchens loooked to be the same size of the Maidenvault of the Red Keep, the stables easily looked that they could hold a thousand horses and the great hall of the keep even from the outside looked so very large that Cersei could hardly comprehend it.

Even Casterly Rock was not so big as this and Casterly Rock was a mountain and this castle had been built by men but then Father had always said that Black Harren had built too big, that the castle could never be held because it could never be truly garrisoned by anyone and all Cersei needed was a look to see the truth of that. You would need all the men, women and children of the riverlands to be piled into this one castle in order to properly use it.

The King was helped out of his litter by one of the kingsguard and he looked worse than the last time she had seen him at the start of their journey but that didn't surprise her, the King had always looked worse than the last time she saw him. His nails were longer, his face was gaunter, his hair had grown so much now that it was reaching his ankles and it was as dirty and knotted as it was long and his majestic black and red robes were stained and horribly torn in places but none were foolish enough to say so.

Indeed, the Lord who came to greet him acted as though the King had dismounted from a horse dressed in fine and perfectly clean robes, proud and strong and fighting off a bandit one handed. Lord Whent Something-Or-Other, she didn't know much about the Lord or his family, only that he was releated to Ser Oswell Whent someway or another, an uncle perhaps or an older brother or something like that.

The King waved of his compliments and his empty flatterey and barked to be shown to his rooms, but not before leering at Lord Whent's maiden daughter who this fool tourney was meant to be in honor off. The girl had the good sense not to recoil and soon the King had passed her by, the Queen had watched still as a statue before she went to greet Lord Whent.

There were other Riverlords present in the Yard as well, though Cersei did not know any of them by sigill alone. The Tullys were not here yet from what she could see, that house she would know and she was unhappy to see that they were not. She would have loved to have spent a few moments alone with Lysa Tully, oh nothing would please her more than that.

Soon it was all said and done and Cersei was climbing up through the steps of Harrenhal with Rhaenys safely tucked in her arms with her maids and her ladies following behind her, her ladies soon peeled away from her to go to their own rooms and only her maids, carrying her trunks were the only companionship that she and her daughter had.

Thankfully, they soon found her room and her husband was waiting for her inside. Rhaegar had stripped off his armour was now dressed in a silk tunic and a pair of black trousers, a glass of wine being held by the rim in his fingers as he read from an old dusty scroll intently. The maids placed her trunks close to the bed, like everything in Harrenhal it was massive and it looked as though it was big enough to hold a dozen people at one.

Once the maids were gone and the door was closed, Cersei walked over to where her husband was sitting and gently cleared her throat to get his attention. Rhaegar looked up at her and smiled at the sight of both of them, he placed the glass of wine down at the side of the scroll and then picked it back up and placed it down on the floor instead before standing up.

Rhaegar took hold of their daughter and pressed a kiss to the side of her head while Rhaenys took hold of a few long strands of silvery hair and did not look like she would let go of them easily but at the same time Rhaegar did not seem to care at all about that. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to greet you in the yard my love, things needed my urgent attention and I needed a little time on my own to deal with them, was the ride in the wheelhouse pleasent?"

"Pleasent enough." Cersei muttered as Rhaenys let out a yawn and with a bit of persuasion from both of them managed to get her to let go of her Father's hair at which point Cersei carried her over to the crib that had been prepared for her and placed her in it and waited for her to fall to sleep before walking back over to her husband. "Now, what so urgently needed your attention? This dusty old scroll?"

"No, but it is important my love." Rhaegar said as he sat back down in his chair and looked down at the words for a long moment, a serious look on his face that she had only seen on his face once before, when he had insisted that their daughter must be named Rhaenys, as he read the same passage over and over again. Something about Ice and Fire and a falling star but Cersei could not make out the rest of the words from where she was standing. Her husband looked up at her then and spoke softly. "What do you know of prophecy?"

"Prophecy?" Cersei repeated slowly and softly, a shiver going up her spine and a twist forming in her gut. The simple question sent her falling back into the darkness of that day, the smell of strange oils, perfumes and spices in the air as she wandered into that tent, feeling immortal, as though nothing could harm her and wanting to know if she would be as happy as she knew in her heart she would be.

And she had been happy, for a time. Until all of her hopes had turned sour, till the witch had seen all her morrows in a drop of her blood and all the promise had turned to naught but rot and smoke and ashes. But she had been wrong, she had to have been wrong. She was a foolish, warty old woman who had simply wanted to scare her because she had woken her up. Nothing more and nothing less. She had no true power.

"Prophecy?" She asked with a small laugh that she did not feel as she shook her head. "There is nothing in it my love, nothing at all. Our days are not written out for us before we live them. They cannot be."

Her husband was quiet then for a moment looked down at the scroll for a moment before he picked it up and placed it on a long copper tube and then sealed it shut before he placed it in a large trunk. "Perhaps you are right. Perhaps, but there were old powers in the world, spells and the like in the days when the Children ruled this land, spells that could cause the sea to rise up and the trees to walk and lands to split clean in two. What's to say that spells that could see into the future was so far beyond them? There are rumours of course that the archmaesters have old tombs in the citadel in Oldtown. But who can say?"

"Who can say?" Cersei felt lighthead, she needed to lay down. "My love, I think I shall go to bed. It has been a long day."

Rhaegar nodded then and kissed her cheek and stared into the fire burning in the hearth, the wood happily burning away. Cersei walked over to the bed, it was too large to be truly comfortable if you slept in it alone but she was too tired and her head too light to truly stay away and she was asleep soon enough.

And as she slept, she dreamed.

Maggy the Frog stood over her, tall as a giant as two other giants, one golden and gleaming and another with the head of a dog stood off against one another, swinging their swords at one another. A giant red snake was swallowing it's tail and a pack of wolves ran over it's scales, chasing something that they could never seem to catch, though she could not see what they were chasing.

When the warty old woman spoke, her voice seemed to hold a laugh in it and her eyes seemed to glow in the light, though nothing was casting it. "Oh, you will wed the prince soon enough and he will have three children and so shall you, but he shall never be a king. Never."

"You shall be Queen though little one, and your sons shall be kings when kings become as common as coppers."

"And then, when you are left with nothing but ashes and blood, when death is all that is waiting for you, dark eyes shall bring your end."

Cersei shot up in her bed then, her entire body shaking despite the fact the fire was still burning away. It had turned dark and she was alone in the room, she pushed her covers away from her and got up to walk to the cradle, reaching down to pick up Rhaenys and holding her close to her as she went to sit in the chair by the fire. But still she shock as the laughter of the witch echoed in her ears and would not let her be.

End of Chapter Fifty-Eight.

* * *

 **Another chapter done and we have some of the first guests arriving at Harrenhal, I get the feeling that most of the Riverlords would put it off for a bit as they wouldn't want to arrive before the King after all.**

 **So, a while back I mentioned that the prophcey that Cersei recived from Maggy was going to be diffrent and here we are. I hope it gives you all something to think about, let me know what you think.**

 **Any who, if you enjoyed please review and leave a follow and favourite and constructive critcism is always welcome.**

 **With much love and fondness,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	59. Chapter 59

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Fifty **-** Nine

The camps of Harrenhal stretched out in miles and miles in every direction, even the massive castle could not hope to contain all of the guests that had been invited to the tourny and that reflected in all the tents that Jaime saw along the way. Rooms in the castles would be reserved for only the most distingushed of guests, the grounds of Harrenhal had been divided into areas with banners flying in the air to distinguish which camp belonged to who.

The twin castles joined by a bridge of House Fray, the White Tree on black boared by red and ten ravens of House Blackwood, the red horse on yellow of House Bracken, the plowman of House Darry, the naked dancing maiden on blue of House Piper, the black crow in flight of House Morrigen, the sea turtle of House Estermont, the peapod of house Peasebury, the black and white Swans of house Swann, the oak leaves of Oakheart, the beehives of Beesbury and the bull skul of Bulwer and the Lemons of House Dalt and the crowned skull of Manwoody, all danced on the breeze as they rode through the lines of tents.

High above the castle itself, on the towers which did not poke above the clouds and were facing them, the three headed dragon of House Targaryden danced alongside the stag of House Baratheon, the trout of House Tully, the golden rose of Tyrell and the speared sun of House Martell. On lower towers, the huntsman of House Tarly and the golden rowan tree of House Rowan fluttered alongside the portcullis of Yronwood and the blue hawk of Fowler.

The Lion of House Lannister and their most powerful bannermen would also be soon flying alongside them as well when room was found for them inside the castle as well. It seemed that only ones of the great houses to not arrive yet were House Stark, House Arryn and House Grejoy. Greyjoy he wasn't surprised at the absence of so far, he would be surprised if it turned out that they had even been invited, none liked the Ironborn and the Ironborn did not like them and apprently they all disliked the idea of Harrenhal, considering it was an ironborn who had built it.

The Starks made some amount of sense as well, it was a long journey from the heart of the North to get to the great castle, but since the Martells were here it was more than likely that the Starks themselves would not be to far behind them as the journey from Dorne was likely to be just as long if not indeed longer.

What did surprised Jaime was that there was no sign of House Arryn or indeed any other Vale houses, he had spent many miserable and long nights forced by his father and his maester to remember as many sigills as he could from every single corner of the realm and while he couldn't remember every single sigill, he know enough Vale sigills to know that he didn't see any of them, and a journey from the Vale wouldn't take near as long as one from the North or from Dorne.

He might have speant a little more time thinking about that if he wasn't so sore from the longride that his thighs and hips and legs ached like he was an old crone before the start of Winter and his arse didn't feel like it was about to fall off. First thing was first, as soon as he got a chamber all his own he was going to have a bath and maybe even some sleep.

The yard was almost overflowing with people, serving men were running too and fro and a wench was drawing water up from a well. Three young boys were playing a game of dice and a Dornish man was throwing knives into a wooden beam to impress two young serving maids who were watching him closely. Two stable boys came running up to take the reins of his and his uncle's horses and to help them dismount.

Ser Kevan looked as bad as he felt, they entire party had wanted to arrive at Harrenhal as soon as they possibly could and while his uncle was not in terrible shape for a man of his age, he still was not the sort of man who took easily to such a punishing ride. His uncle handed a piece of silver to one of the stable boys as he took his horse over to the stable before he turned his attention to Jaime. "Go and find your sister, no doubt the King will summon us soon enough to pay him tribute but he might be asleep or having someone else attend him at the moment."

Jaime nodded and turned away from his uncle and glanced up at the tower that had the Targaryn banner flying atop it, if Cersei was going to be anywhere then she would be in there. The bath and the bed and the food to fill his belly would have to wait but he didn't mind that, Cersei had always been enough to sustain him when he was denied of everything else.

He set off in the direction of the tower just as his Aunt Genna's wheelhouse began to trundle in through the gate. He loved his aunt but he wasn't in the mood to to have her tugging at his ear and lecturing him, he had always assumed that those things would stop when he became taller than her but if anything the lectures had only become longer and the tuggings had only become harder.

The tower was massive inside as well as out and Jaime had not even the faintest notion where to begin his search, other than that his sister and her husband were not likely to be on the ground floor of the tower. Thankfully for him, he came across a serving man who was about his tasks who told him what room that the Prince and Cersei had been settled it once Jaime had convinced him that he was the Princess's brother.

Thankfully, the guards on the door knew him and greeted him as such and let him through with no issue. Cersei was standing near the window of the room, staring out of it. She was dressed in crimson and black, rubies shinning in her hair and around her throat and at her fingers. She truly was the most beautiful woman in the world and even simply the sight of her made his loins stir with interest.

She heard the door open and when she turned to look at him, her beautiful green eyes widened in delight at the sight of him. "Jaime." She breathed, for a moment sounding as though she was overcome with emotion before she rushed over to him, throwing herself into his chest. Jaime wrapped his arms around her and buried his nose into her golden curls, she smelled of lavander and honey and sandlewood and something else that he could not describe but always seemed to remind him of his sister and that night in Eel Alley.

He didn't know how long they stood there, just holding one another but he did know that it wasn't for long enough. It was never long enough for him. As always, it was Cersei who broke the embrace first with a nervous glance cast towards the door, as if she expected someone to burst in at any moment. After a few moments she looked back at him and reached out to take hold of one of his hands, his sword hand, by the wrist. Her thumb ran over the skin gently and she smiled. "I'm glad you're here, I've missed you."

"Not more than I have you, sweet sister." And it was the truth, how could it not be? When he was alone, no matter what he was doing and what he was thinking of, his thoughts always seemed to come back to her. And he had been taking refuge in his memories of her more and more often as of late, as his Father was pushing for more and more of the match with Lysa Tully.

It occurred to him then and there that Lysa was more than likely here, in the walls of the castle. The trout of Tully had been flying high above the castle walls and her lady mother had been a Whent. Jaime only prayed that he would be able to spend a few days with Cersei before he w\s forced to spend more time with that wilting flower.

Cersei tilted up her head and caught Jaime's lips, Jaime moaned into her mouth and began to tug at the silk of her gown while moving her back over to a large chair in front of the fire. He spun them both around so that his back was towards the chair and then he sat down in it, pulling Cersei into his lap. His sister had never weighed anything when he tried to pick her up, they fit together perfectly.

He abandoned her lips and attacked her neck, nipping at the pale white skin and letting out a pleased growl when he watched the dark marks forming on her skin and again when he felt her long fingers come up to run through his own golden hair, so much like her own. He shivered deep in his bones when he felt her nails running over the skin of his scalp.

His hands came up to pull at the strings of her dress and that was when Cersei pulled away from him, her face flushed red as she tried to catch her breath and hit Jaime's hands to make him drop them down to her hips. "Jaime, Jaime we can't." She said with a whine as she started to wriggle in his lap. "Jaime, let me get up. Let me go, quickly."

Jaime frowned but did as she asked and let go of her hips and Cersei stood up and walked over to the table and picked up a hand glass, a frown appering on her lovely face and her eyes shinning in annoyance. "Uh, Jaime. You've left me with bruises, I am going to have to cover my neck for the rest of the tourney. Must you always be so aggravating?"

"If it's a choice between that and not getting to touch you again, then I would always choose to be aggravating." Jaime muttered before he stood up and walked over to Cersei, wrapping his arms around her middle and nuzziling into her neck. "I've missed you, it's been months and months since we saw each other last. I just wanted to be with you for a moment."

"And I've missed you Jaime, I swear to you that I have but we cannot afford to be stupid about this. I am the Princess of the Seven Kingdoms now, my husband in within these walls. Everyone who actually matters is going to be within these walls sooner or later, if we are caught...If there is even a whisper, even a hint about either of us, then we will both lose our heads."

Jaime knew that she was right, that they had to be more careful than they already were. But just because he knew that Cersei was right didn't mean that he had to like it and the reminder that his sister was married and that her husband was within these same walls did not help that matter at all. He didn't understand, even now, what all of this meant to his sister when all that mattered to him was her. They could just run away, right then and get as far away as possible.

He had glanced at many a map of the Riverlands in his life and he knew that there was a port not too far away from Harrenhal, Saltpans it was called. They would have to cross a river to get there but in a matter of days they could be there, over the sea and make a life for themselves in Pentos or perhaps Myr or even in Volantis or Lys.

It would be perfect, he could earn coin as a sellsword, all he was good for was his swordhand after all, and Cersei could wait for him and he would come back to her always at the end of the day. But it wouldn't be the first time that he had brought such a possiblity up to his lover and he doubted that this time the answer would be any diffrent. The crown, being a Queen, it mattered to Cersei to much for her to give it up.

The things he did for love.

A high pitched wail from the next room broke the silence that had fallen on to them by then and Cersei let out a small sigh before she turned on her feet and walked into the room, coming back out a few moments later humming to the small child in her arms and rocking her gently. Jaime wandered over to his sister and glanced down at the babe.

The golden hair was the first thing that he noticed, even now it had started to form into the curls that all Lannisters had. Her nose was dainty, an exact replica of Cersei's and her lips were like her Mother's as well. She was almost entirely a Lannister, for a moment Jaime could almost believe that the girl might be his except for when he looked at her eyes and saw Prince Rhaegar's eyes staring back at him.

It turned his stomach and he stepped away from his sister, the anger in him. Cersei spoke, as though she hadn't noticed. "She's beautiful, isn't she Jaime? The most beautiful thing in the world. Rhaegar is besotted with her as well, I am no fool of course. I know he will want a son as well, I will get to that as soon as I can. But I just want to enjoy this little one for a little while longer. Is Father here?"

The question came so out of the blue that he almost didn't hear it, Cersei asked again with that glare on her face that he always saw when he irritated her. "No, he stayed at the Rock with Uncle Tygett, Uncle Gerion and Tyrion. Aunt Genna and Uncle Kevan came with me though." Cersei did not look any happier than she did before he told her that sadly.

After a few more moments of rocking and humming the babe finally feel quiet in Cersei's arms and his sister sat down in the nearest chair and kept looking at her. After a few moments of that silence Jaime finally spoke again. "What's her name?"

"Rhaenys." His sister spoke and she looked irritated once again as she looked up at him. "I know, I don't like it either. But Rhaegar insisted that she had to have a Targaryen name and that it had to be Rhaenys. That she had to be Rhaenys, whatever that happens to mean. I wanted her to be Joanna, for Mother or Jenye for grandmother or maybe even Myrcella. But he just would not listen to me, and he didn't explain as to why."

Jaime didn't really know what to say to any of that, he had never really thought as to what he would actually name any of his children. he never honestly thought that he would ever have any that weren't with Cersei and if so then it would always be Cersei who would be the ones to name them. But no, that wasn't true. There had been those dreams when he had dreamt of himself as the Lord of Casterly Rock with Elia Martell at his side and they had half a dozen children playing at their feet.

He hadn't thought about Elia in such a very long time and those dreams had been becoming rarer and rarer, but that did not mean that he did not miss having them. He loved Cersei, he did. But every now and then he would hear something or smell something that would make him remember dark eyes or the hint of jasmine and citrus in the air.

But it didn't matter, none of that mattered. Elia was thousands of miles away and married to her savage northerner and had whelped him two children and was probably very happily in the process of whelping more for him. And yet Cersei was much the same, not as much distance seperated Casterly Rock and King's Landings as the North, but the hardly did little to sooth him when Cersei was out of his reach as well and she was being forced to have children with Prince Rhaegar.

As he stood and watched the fire burning, Cersei stood from her chair and walked back into the other room and came back out a few moments later without the babe. "I've put her back down, she'll sleep for a bit at least. I need to speak with you, Father not being here might actually be for the best now that I think of this." Cersei reached out and took his hand and stared into his eyes.

"Ser Harlan Grandison died before I gave birth, word reached the Rock didn't it?" Jaime nodded, it had not been much of a surprise when the news had came. Every time he had seen the old knight when he had been in King's Landing he looked like he was about to fall asleep, he knew even back that the man probably didn't have long left to live anyway but it was always a shame when a knight died in bed. A knight should die on his feet with a sword in his hand, if he was going to die it was the way he would want to die, with Cersei holding him in her arms as the last of his blood left him.

"There is a spot on the Kingsguard that needs to be filled, the small council comprised a list of names for the King and the Lord Commander to consider together but they haven't made a decision as of yet." Cersei smiled then, her eyes almost seeming to glow. "The King will be summoning everyone to pay him tribute in the main hall of Harrenhal soon enough, we are going to persuade him to put you on the kingsguars."

Him? A kingsguard? Father would be furious with him, he might just disown him on the spot. Jaime frowned as he looked at his sister. "But, I would be forbidden to hold on to any lands. I wouldn't be lord of Casterly Rock."

"No, no you wouldn't but Jaime think about it for a moment, you would be forbidden to hold lands or titles but you also would be forbidden to take any wives and Lysa Tully can be left to chock on that." Jaime wasn't sure he would have put it that way but he had sent that letter to Cersei that night at Riverrun so they could both try and find out a way to get him away from Lysa Tully, neither of them wanted him to marry her.

But being a kingsguard? That had been something he had wanted since he was a little boy, he had wanted to be Arthur Dayne and ride with the sworn brothers of the white sword. And he would be in King's Landing, he would be near Cersei and it would be easier for them to hide if he was expected to be around her all the time. The Kingsguard was also expected to guard the entire royal family as well after all.

It wasn't the worst idea, and he did not want to be married to Lysa Tully at alll. So, he nodded and Cersei smiled and reached up to kiss him and Jaime held her close to him as they indulged with one another. They both jumped away from one another when there was a sudden knock at the door. "Princess, your Uncle Kevan is here and would like to see you?"

"One moment." Cersei quickly shot an irritated glare at Jaime that only made him smirk as she retrived a silken scarf from one of her trunks and wrapped it around her neck to cover the bruises on her throat. "Send him in."

Uncle Kevan strode through the room and walked over to Cersei and pressed a kiss to both of her cheeks and Cersei dutifully returned them before Kevan stepped back and examined his neice. "You look well, your Aunt Genna sends her apologies. She would have come to see you but it was a long and tiring ride and she felt the need to go and lay down. Your Father sends his regards but his duties keep him busy at the Rock."

Cersei nodded and accepted the excuses with the grace that was expected from her and then Ser Kevan turned his attention from Cersei to Jaime. "We've been summoned, the King is ready to see us."

"I will becoming as well Uncle." Cersei spoke out and their father's brother frowned at that as he stared at her Cersei for a long moment, only submitting when he realised that he did not truly have the right or the status to contridict a princess and so simply sighed and turned to make his way out of the room. Cersei shot a glance at Jaime before following their uncle out of the room, Jaime following her.

Cersei spoke to one of the guards and told him to go and find one of her maids to look after the babe and once the guard had gone off to find one, they began to make their climb back down the steps to the ground level. The journey down almost seemed to be longer than the journey up, but eventually they came to the end of the stairs and set to crossing the yard.

When they reached the main keep and set to making the way to the great hall, they came across Lysa Tully and her Father. Hoster Tully was dressed in a rich blue velvet doublet and some white trouser with a red cloack clasp holding his Tully cloak in place. Lysa was wearing a gown of blue and red with a necklack of moonstones around her neck and fish breaching the water masterfully brought to life on her skirts, all wrought in red and blue thread.

Lysa let out a happy little gasp as she saw him and ran over to him, her blue eyes were filled with delight and her pale skin was already flushing red. She dipped into a low curtsey. "Ser Jaime, my Lord Kevan, Princess Cersei."

Cersei stared at the kneeling woman like she was a particually disguisting insect that had taken the liberty of crawling over her skirts when she had decided to sit down in the grass but the look only lasted for a moment and was replaced with a pale mask that showed nothing as she reached down and helped the other woman to her feet and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I hear we are to be sisters, how sweet a thought that is."

If a smile could ever be too big for a face, then the one on Lysa's face could qualify for that. "Oh yes, so very sweet a thought indeed my Princess. You have a daughter as well, don't you? When Ser Jaime and I have a daughter of our own, perhaps our own daughters will be friends. Close as sisters."

"How lovely. My heart almost bursts at joy at the thought of it." Jaime knew his sister better than anyone and he knew exactly what she wanted to say to the other woman and it would not be pleasent. Cersei looked over Lysa's shoulder, looking like she was looking for someone. "Speaking of sisters, you seem to be missing one. Where is the Lady Catelyn?"

Lysa seemed to have lost her tongue at that, spluttering over her words as she tried to speak something. It was her Lord Father who stepped in for her rescue. "My daughter remainded behind at Riverrun my princess, I am afraid that in her delicate condition she is unable to bear any traveling at the moment. Once she is feeling better, I am sure she will be well enough to attend the wedding at Casterly Rock.

"Hm." Cersei hummed as she stared at the lord for a moment and then rolled her shoulders. "One can only hope so, we were all so very shocked when we heard what had happened to your poor daughter my Lord. To be shamed, humilated in such a way. I am not sure if I would be strong enough to bear it, I hope that you will find someone for Lady Catelyn who will be able to look past all of it."

Lord Hoster looked as though he was about to frown for a moment but he caught himself and then nodded, said a few words to Kevan and to Jaime before begging their pardon and walking past them. Lysa Tully remained behind for just a moment and shly glanced up at Jaime. "There is to be a feast tonight, I hope you will consider coming to sit by me. I would like that very much, my lord." And with that, when her father bellowed for her, Lysa scurried away.

"Be sweeter to the girl Jaime." His uncle spoke as he watched her run after her Father. "She's clearly besotted with you but she's nervous as well. A few small acts of kindness before the marriage, it can make all the diffrence in the world. Eat with her tonight, speak with her and tell her stories of the Rock from when you were a boy. Get her more comfortable with the idea of living there."

"Yes Uncle." Jaime answered, all though all he wanted to do was scream that he wanted nothing less in the world than to marry Lysa Tully. He knew that his uncle wouldn't listen and if he did listen, he just wouldn't care. Kevan had always been their father's creatue and his strong right arm, sending him to deal with issues he did not want to deal with himself and supporting him in every other matter.

Aunt Genna was much the same in that regard as well, sometimes Jaime didn't understand how his Father could inspire such loyalty in his own siblings. Or maybe it wasn't loyalty at alll, maybe they were simply as afraid of him as everyone else was and they realised it was better to stand behind him than in front of him and get crushed under his heel.

Kevan nodded at his words and the turned to look at Cersei. "Cersei, I am sure you only meant to be kind sweetling, but it wasn't well done to bring up Lady Catelyn and her shame. Luckily, I don't think that either Lord Hoster or his daughter took any offense by your remarks but even so going forward be a little more careful about what you say."

Cersei's face twitched for a moment and the smile she had on her lips threatened to fall for a moment but the break in the mask only lasted for a moment before it resettled itself. "Of course Uncle, I meant no offense at all. I simply am so very concerned about Lady Catelyn, that is all. Perhaps I shall invited her to attend me in King's Landing."

Ser Kevan seemed happy renough with her answer and then he turned and they all continued to make their way through the hallways until they arrived at the massive doors which would lead into the great hall. A hearld nodded at all of them and rushed through a smaller door that was built into the wood of the massive doors and a few moments later, they were slowly pulled open in a way that reminded Jaime of a drawbridge being lowered.

If you combined the Great Hall of the Red Keep and the Hall of Heroes and the Main Hall of Casterly Rock together then you might have something that was close to the size of the Great Hall of Harrenhal, but even then this hall might still be the larger of them. It took four men on one side and four men on the other pulling in tandem to get the doors open.

Stained glass windows showing great battles, knights slaying dragons and other monsters and scenes from history let in streams of multicoloured lights that bathed the tables and the black stone of the walls and floor in raidence that was all the colours of the rainbow. The floor was covered in sweet smelling rushes and servants were setting plates and places for the feast later on tonight.

The King was sitting at the large char on the dais that was clearly mean for Lord Whent, who seemed odly absent but his younger brother was standing there on the dais, clad in the shinning white of the kingsguard with the black bat of Harrenhal emblazoned on his pure white shield. He had the honour of guarding the King with Ser Barristan, who even when balding and the rest of his hair turning as white as his armour still looked glorious.

The king, sadly, looked nothing of the sort. His hair was still as long and dirty and knotted as the last time that Jaime had seen him, but he seemed to have less of it. It looked like some of his hair had actually fallen out. He was gaunt, far more than he had been before almost like a layer of skin had been pulled over some bones. Jaime had to wonder if he even bothered to eat anymore, if he was eating then it surely was not enough.

His eyes were glancing all over the room, as if he was always looking for some sort of threat that only he could see. Eventually, his eyes landed on them and they narrowed. All three lions feel to their knees in front of the dragon, swallowing their pride and hoping to survive. The king's head turned and stopped on Cersei, his voice was a fragile as a reed but even then there was something dangerous in it. Something sharp. "Gooddaughter, I do not recall summoning you to attend me."

"I wished to see you your grace, I hope that I did not overstep myself. If you would have me leave, simply say the word." Cersei spoke softly and sweetly, never rasing her head to look directly at the King. Cersei could restrain herself, when it suited her.

"No, you may stay. Your presence does not irritate me as much as another lion's absence. Where is Lord Tywin, my dear old friend? My most reliant hand? My most loyal servant." If his father was here, Jaime wondered what he would do. He remebered what happened last time the King had called his Father a servant, it was at the tourney at Casterly Rock to celebrate the birth of Prince Viserys, his Father had withdrawn without the King's leave but he had been in the heart of the Rock then here he would just be another lord.

"My Lord brother begs your forgiveness, your Grace." Ser Kevan spoke then, ever comfortable with speaking his brother's words out of his own mouth. "Duties have fallen on to him at Casterly Rock that demands his attention and he can not leave for the foreseeable future, he has sent his grace many gifts of his esteem. A sword with a bejewled hilt made with the finest steelsmiths in Lannisport, only a sword of Valyrian steel would feel more comfortable in your grace's hand and cut as sharply. Two stallions finely breed and well trained and a dozen chests filled with gold and jewels."

That seemed to have calmed the King somewhat, or at least he did not seem quite so close to a fit of rage anymore. He raised his hand and with a wave, it was clear that they were dismissed. Kevan and Jaime both raised to their feet, but Cersei remained kneeling. "Your grace, I beg your pardon but might I ask you something? Has there been any attempt made in finding a replacement for Ser Harlan, truly I know finding a knight to replace one of his metal shall be difficult but it sickens my heart to think of your grace not being properly protected."

Now? She was going to do it now? Jaime knew that he had agree to it, that it was what he wanted but he didn't know she was going to try and get the King to do it now. Kevan glanced at him and asked him without any words if he knew what his sister was doing, Jaime shock his head slightly and it wasn't in all truth a lie. He honestly did not in all truth know.

The king stared at Cersei for a while before he finally spoke. "No, we have not. There is no one that we deem as suitable to take that spot, why Princess? Do you believe you know someone who is ready to take that spot? Someone who is worthy to protect me and those that are dearest to me?"

"I think I do you grace, a man with skill and strength and would uphold his vows to the very last letter. A man who would be worthy to serve in the Kingsguard." Cersei slowly got to her feet, her long golden curls falling around her face and down to her back as she rose. "My brother, Ser Jaime of the house Lannister."

A silence fell on the hall then, no one said anything at all as every single eye was drawn to his sister. She stood there, bold as gold and brave as lioness with her head held high meeting the King's gaze with out blinking. Ser Kevan's mouth opened and then shut and then opened and shut over and over again, his face had turned as pale as sour milk.

The king stared at Cersei, there was shock in his eyes as well but soon enough that cleared up and was replaced with something else and a slow smile stared to unfurl on his lips and for a moment the King looked like he was about to burst out laughing. He slowly turned his head to look at Jaime. "And you, Ser Jaime. What do you say to your sister's words? Would you like to have a place in the sworn brotherhood of the Kingsguard?"

Uncle Kevan implored him with his eyes to say no, Cersei commanded him with her eyes to say yes. He glanced between them both for a moment before he turned his attention fully on to the King. "My sister honours and flatters me with her words your grace, and I know that they are kindly meant but I myself can not speak to the truth of them. To be true it would be an honour to serve in the Kingsguard, what little boy when first learning how to train with his first wooden sword does not want that? But the choice cannot be mine, I would say it must be yours."

"Yes, it is mine isn't it? Well, I think I want you very much to be a part of my Kingsguard." The king spoke and then stood up, pulling himself up from his chair and staring down at all of from the top of the dais. "But not just yet, we shall wait for all the remaining guests to arrive. After all, the making a new Kingsguard is such a rare thing. We would not want anyone to miss that, to carry back word to all seven kingdoms that the Young Lion of Lannister now serves the Dragon."

"Your grace-" Uncle Kevan started but the king held up his hand and dismissed them all with a wave. Kevan swallowed roughly and then marched out of the hall with Cersei and Jaime following after him. Cersei smirking like she had caught her pray and ripped it apart with her claws and her teeth, Jaime wasn't sure if he had made the right choice but it was done now.

Once they were outside the hall and the door had been shut once again, Kevan turned to look at the both of them with his face quivering in barely supressed rage. "What have you both done?" It might have been meant as a shout, but it had only came out in a deathly whisper.

Cersei said nothing, simply smiled and pushed past their uncle. Her skirts whispering against the floor as she moved deeper into the castle.

Jaime cast a glance at his uncle for a moment, tried to look apologetic, before he moved past him and followed after Cersei.

As he always had.

End of Chapter Fifty-Nine.

* * *

 **Wooooooooooo**

 **Okay, so that's another chapter done. Next chapter, well I don't want to spoil too much but all I'll say is the next POV will not be a Lannister. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it.**

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 **With much love and fondest regards,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	60. Chapter 60

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Sixty

A soft rain was falling on the Riverlands and the air was fresh, there had been a thunderstorm the night before that could have put any storm that the gods had sent against Storm's End to shame. The gods had stopped their warring at least but the rain seemed content to keep coming down on to them as they made their way across the damp land to Harrenhal.

It was not the first violent outburst of weather they had seen on their journey so far, on the day that they had reached Moat Cailin a sudden spring snow had come on to them and for three nights they had been forced to take shelter in the ruins. One of the older guardsmen that his Father had sent with them had proclaimed that it was one of the last gasps of winter now that spring was finally here.

It had been a miserable three nights, the tower they had sheltered was not exposed to the elements but the Moat had not been built to deal with all the harshness of Winter. Thankfully, Elia had not grown sick as Ned had been concerned that she would and on the fourth day, the snows had melted as though they had never been there to start with.

From then, it was another fifteen long and slow days crossing through the seemingly endless marsh that was the Neck. Ned had hoped that they might feast and rest at Greywater Watch for a night or two but they could not find the castle at alll. Only Crannogmen truly seemed to know the Neck, such as it was said that only a Northman could know the North and only a Dornishman could know Dorne. It did not help matters that the seat of House Reed, like all buildings of the Neck, floated and moved at the will of the streams.

They had enough food to make it through, though Ned had to admit that even he had been growing wearly of salted black sasuage to fill his stomach, and they had been able to resupply themselves and have a proper meal at the Inn on the other side of the Neck. He had remembered it well, it was the place that both he and his wife finally discovered that they had a child coming.

He remembered that he thought that he was so blessed to have one child, he never thought for a moment that he would have two. Nor did he ever think for a moment that they would already have another one already on the way. But then Old Nan had once said that those who acted as they knew all that life had instore for them were fools and that they deserved the rude awakening that was coming to them, like most things Old Nan turned out to be right.

He had been more concerned about Elia this time they ventured south, a part of him deep inside at the bottom of his chest whispered that perhaps he should have been firmer with her while suggesting that she remain at Winterfell. Foul memories of what happened the last time they had seen King Aerys while Elia was carrying their child coated the back of his throat with bitterness.

Alas, he had not pressed on that matter as Elia had insisted that she come with him, that there was to be no doubt on that score. She had suggested that they leave both of their sons behind in the safety of Winterfell and on that he and his Father had agreed most heartily. Thankfully, Elia did not look that pregnant yet. If the gods decided to smile on them, then the tourney might indeed be over before any obvious signs became visable.

His wife was in the small wheelhouse, alone aside from her thoughts. Lyanna had been spending some of the days of the jourrney with her but he knew that if his sister was forced to spend all of the journey in the wheelhouse then she would never forgive him so at the moment she was riding next to him, dressed in her old riding leathers and teasing Benjen who was riding next to her.

Harrenhal was slowly growing on the horizon and an array of brightly coloured tents spread all around it like a massive field of different coloured flowers. As they got closer to the castle the speed of their small train slowed to a trickle as the road into the castle was congested with serving men, camp followers, little children, sellswords and knights and carts being pulled along by oxen.

It was a sea of flesh and Ned did not think he had ever seen so many people together in one place before in his life, even when he had returned to Winterfell from King's Landing and found the castle surrounded by his Father's bannermen was nothing compared to this. An hour passed slowly before they managed to get through the gate of the castle.

Ned hopped off of the back of his horse when a stable boy ran up to take the reins, Ned let out a sigh when he felt the familar and almost comforting sensation of blood rushing to the areas of his body that had grown numb due to the long ride. Lyanna climbed down from her horse when two more stable boys ran over to tend to her and their brother's horse.

Benjen jumped down and Ned was quick to steady him with a hand on his shoulder when it looked as though his little brother had misjudged how far it actually was to the ground from the back of his horse. Benjen looked up at him with a smile and then walked away from him as Ned turned and walked over to the wheelhouse which had rolled in slowly to the courtyard behind them.

Ned reached over to open the door and helped Elia out of the Wheelhouse, his wife was dressed in a dress of orange silk and sleeves of cloth of gold, a string of black diamonds around her neck and a hairnet studded with fire opals bound her black curls. She would be just as beautiful if she was dressed in an onion sack and barefoot with a shaved head, but she was a goddess in the flesh when she was dressed like this.

"How nice it is to finally stretch my legs." Elia said with a hum and smiled at him and then leaned up to kiss him and Ned leaned down to deepen the kiss. Once the kiss had ended, Ned and Elia entwined their hands together and walked into the courtyard as the serving men started to carry their luggage into the castle. Lyanna and Benjen followed them inside as they made their way through the castle and up the tower that the castellan of Harrenhal informed them had been reserved for them at the highest levels.

Their suite of apartments was large with rooms for all of them, one contained a large enough bed for him and Elia as well as dozen other people, two smaller rooms contained smaller beds for Lyanna and Benjen, though each was still large enough to hold more than three people. The floors were covered in sweet rushes and tapestries were hanging off of the walls and the serving men that had come with them from Winterfell with the aid of the serving men from Harrenhal began to unpack their luggage.

Once all the luggage had been unpacked, the Starks were alone with a fire burning in their heath. Ned would like nothing more than to simply stay sat on the large chair with Elia in his lap, his hand resting on her slightly swollen belly where their next child lay growing and perhaps even having a nap as well, sadly just as always it seemed as though younger siblings never seemed to forget their sacred duty to annoy their older siblings.

"Come on Neddard." Lyanna said as she threw a pillow stuffed with goose feathers at him at his face, Elia laughed at that and Ned let out a groan of disapproval both at his wife's lack of loyalty and his sister's sheer treason. "Benjen and I aren't as old as you are, and we can't just stay in this chamber for the rest of the day till the feast tonight. I want to do something."

"All right, all right." He said with another groan as he stood up from the chair and turned his full attention on to his siblings. "We could go for a walk around the castle? There might even be a hunt going."

Benjen seemed excited enough and so did Lyanna and it made Ned feel meloncholy, his little sister had seemed ever more reserved ever since that fateful night when he had his heart attack. It seemed to have made her muture and Ned couldn't deny that he had been happy about that, he loved Lyanna but he had always worried about her, but she also hadn't seemed to have much for her to enjoy as of late.

If this was what she needed, if a walk and a ride would give her some happines, then Ned would give that to her without a second thought. It wouldn't be long now till she was sent off to Storm's End to marry Robert after all and while Ned was certain enough that his best friend would be able to make Lya happy, he knew that it would be a while before she realised that.

"Would you like to come with us, Elia?" Benjen asked and Elia smiled at him for a moment before standing up from a chair, Ned keeping an eye on her as she got. He hadn't been around to help Elia through the majority of her first pregnancy but he fully intended for it to be different this time and if he remebered what the maester had told him correctly, then a pregnancy could often cause rapid shifts in balance.

Thankfully, it seemed as though this time it was not going to happen. Elia got to her feet and glanced at him. "I would love too, but I do not think I shall go on a hunt. But I don't think I would enjoy anything more than a walk."

Ned was about to go and find a fur for Elia, winter might be over but it still wasn't quite that warm and the idea of the baby being affected made him even more aware of that. But before anyone could take a step, the door to the apartments opened and a guard dressed in Stark colours walked in and bowed to them. "My lords, my ladies, I beg your pardon. Lord Robert of the House Baratheon is here and would beg leave to enter."

Ned tried not to notice when Lyanna's face fell, her eyes slid shut and she let out a small sigh. It was more than likely just the feelings that all young women went through before they were wed. He knew for a fact that Elia wasn't thrilled to marry him at first, how could she have been? She was going to marry a prince and be Queen and she had ended up with him.

He choose not to dwell on those thoughts anymore, they always soured his mood. So, Ned cleared his throat before he spoke. "Please, send him in." The guard nodded and left the room and only a few moments later, the door burst open and Robert strode in to the room as though it belonged to him and he had simply come back to reclaim his rightful place.

His best friend came over to Ned first and threw his arms around him with a roar and Ned tried his hardest to breath through his nose as the mountain of muscle that was Robert threatened to crush him with the embrace. Thanking the old gods, perhaps being close to the God's Eye meant that they could see them here, the hug was over soon enough.

He had been about to tell Robert not to embrace Elia in such a way, his wife had always had a delicate frame but now it was even more fragile. Thankfully, Robert seemed to have a sense of that as well and so instead of embracing her, he simply pressed a kiss to her check and the back of her hand. Benjen walked away with mussed up hair, but his baby brother looked afterwards like a windstorm had hit him.

"My lady." Robert said softly to Lyanna, taking her hand and bringing it up to his lips, kissing it. Lyanna stared up at her bethrothed, her grey eyes set in an unblinking stare. "You look more lovely than ever and it always gladdens my heart to see you. I hope that ride from the North was agreeable to you, I remember riding there being a hard ride for me."

"My lord's concern warms my heart." Lyanna spoke quietly, the words perfectly recited. "The ride was long indeeed, but Northern horses are bread for the cold of the North. We can ride them in the depths of Winter, in the middle of a snowstorm and they would still see us safely to where we need to go. And I am a more than able horse woman, my Lord Father himself once said that I seemed half a horse myself."

"I cannot speak to the horses of the North's breeding, but I am sure that they are as fine as you say that they are my Lady. But Storm's End has many fine horses as well. Once you are it's lady, the run of the stables is yours. I never asked, does my Lady like to hunt?" Robert asked and for a moment, it warmed Ned's heart to see, it seemed as though that had caught Lyanna's interest.

"I do, Father doesn't always allow me to come on them though. And I must always ride side saddle and only as company for the men. I imagine that I am better than any of them with a bow and arrow." Ned had seen first hand his sister's skills with the bow, she was better with a sword if he was going to be honest and even that needed some work, but she could make the targets more often than not.

Lya had been nine, the first time she had asked their father if she could actually hunt for some of the meat with the men. Instead of only witnessing it and keeping the men company. He hadn't been there at the time, he was being fostered in the Eyrie but from what Brandon had related to him in his letters, he wasn't sure that he had wanted to be there.

The stones of Winterfell had apprently shaken at the sounds of their screaming and by the time it was done, Lyanna had been sent to her room without supper and in tears. Yes, in many ways he had been glad that he had not been there. Ned had always been obident, dutiful to his Father. When he had been told that he was going to the Eyrie, he had not sobbed or begged to stay as he imagined most boys his age had done when they were told it was their time to be sent away from home, he accept it sliently and only wept at night when no one had seen.

But for all of that, Lyanna was his baby sister. If he had been there when his Father had sent her away crying he wasn't sure what he would do but he was sure that he would never forgive his Father for making her cry. If Robert would allow her to actually partake in the hunting, to be armed and allow her to enjoy it the way she wanted, then it might turn out they were better suited for one another than Ned could have ever hoped for.

Robert, thankfully and rarely for once did not wind up letting Ned down, he smiled at Lyanna as he spoke. "My lady, if you would like to ride and hunt with me with a bow in hand then I would not complain at all. I'd always love some company and mine own Lady Mother went hunting with my Lord Father often, she always enjoyed it and brought back the largest deer I had ever seen."

That seemed to have cheered Lya up and for perhaps the first time Ned saw her look at Robert in a way that could be described as warm and Robert's chest seemed to swell in pride. His friend turned to face him. "Ned, would you mind coming with me for a walk? There's something I need to talk to you about, actually to be honest they are a couple of things."

Ned frowned and was about to decline, not because he didn't want to talk to Robert but because he had already promised his own family that he would go for a walk with them, when Elia came forward and rested her small hand against his larger arm. "You go Ned, it's been too long since you've both seen one another. We can go for a walk on our own, our guards shall be more than enough to keep us safe. And of course, we shall Benjen with us as well."

His baby brother's face flushed red at the faith his brother's wife showed in him and Lyanna scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, thank the gods old and new that we shall have Benjen with us. If we are threatened by a drunken dwarf pox then we need feel no fear, but anything worse and we shall be glad for the guards."

"Oh, you think that's like to happen?" Benjen asked as he narrowed his eyes at Lya. "I mean, that we might meet such a dwarf here at Harrenhal? I mean, obviously, he would be upset that Father changed his mind about the betrothal but do you honestly think all the way here to get you back? If so, don't worry. I won't stand in your way, how could I stand against such an act of passion?"

"All right, both of you stop it now." Ned spoke, trying his best to not sound too amused. He got the sense that he had failed in that somewhat as both of them turned to look at him with grins on their faces. "Both of you make sure that you stay with Elia and don't try and run away from the guards or slip away or crawl away or what ever way you would try and get away from them. Both of you rememeber that you are still members of House Stark and what you do and how you both behave reflects on the rest of us, alright?"

Benjen nodded and Lyanna sighed but all things considered Ned know that was the best that he could truely hoped for. Elia set out to gather furs for all of them to wear and Ned turned to follow Robert out of the room, making their way down the tower until they reached the ground level. They walked through the courtyard and back out into the grounds, dodging out of the way of serving men rushing back and forth into the castle.

"Ah Ned." Robert said with a sigh as they walked through the city of tents that had sprung up outside the walls of Harrenhal, a massive grin on his face that Ned had seen thousands of time since they were boys. "Your sister gets more and more beautiful every time I see her, I still don't know how someone as ugly as you can be releated to someone who looks like Lyanna, and you somehow managed to get Elia Martell as well, the gods do like their jests."

"You're not funny." Ned said, though Robert's sense of humour was something that he had long ago grown used too. If you didn't get used to it, then you were as like to slip into his room in the middle of the night and throttle him. "Forgeting how ugly I am for the moment, what is it you actually wanted to talk about? I'm surprised your not trying to spend every single possible moment with her."

"There will be time for that later, what I wanted to talk to you about was...well, I wanted you to have a talk with Lyanna about something for me." Robert suddenly looked completely unsure, it was a rare look for his friend to have say the least. "You know how you did a toe into your bathtub, to make sure that it is not burning hot or icy cold? Well, I want you to see how Lyanna is, when I suggest bringing Mya to Storm's End."

Ned's first thought was that he was surprised his friend would even consider brining his baseborn daughter to live at his castle with his new lady wife, he knew that Robert was fond of the baby girl he had sired on a common woman who had been in service to Lord Royce at the Gates of the Moon. Ned remembered the sweet little thing, with her thick black hair and the dark blue eyes that could only mark her of Baratheon blood, even her nose looked something like Robert's.

Little Mya Stone was sweet, and if Robert wished to take more responsiblity for the girl than Ned couldn't be prouder. But Lyanna...Ned was never the best with lies, with falsehoods, with twisting the truth. So many different words and sayings and ways putting it when it was all the same thing in the end, not speaking the truth. And Ned had never held with that, the best he had ever been able to do with that was simply not speak at all when commanded too.

But for Robert, and for Lya, he could not and would not hold his tongue and he would not tell no lies. "Robert I...Lyanna is more than ready to marry you, she knows that it is her duty." That itself was not a lie, after their Father had suffered his attack, Lyanna had thrown away almost all her childish notions and had readied herself for the marriage, even if she did not await it with baited breath. "But having said that, one of the things that concerned her the most was the fact that you did have a bastard in the Vale. She's afraid that you would not keep to one bed."

Robert looked like Ned had turned to face him and hit him in the jaw, shock blossming on his face and flushing it red. "That's stupid Ned, she's beautiful. Why would I want any other bed, any other woman, when I have Lyanna waiting for me? What does Mya have to do with anyway? Lyanna doesn't have to have anything to do with her if she doesn't want too."

"I know that." Ned began slowly, but if he knew his sister at all then it would be unlike her to simply ignore the girl. Lyanna might even try and take a more active hand when it came to raising the girl, it would certainly not be unheard off for noble ladies to oversee the education of female bastards, they were even less likely to inherit than male bastards after all.

But even for all of that, Ned got the sense that his friend did not quite understand the problem. Father had always said that they all had a drop of the wolf's blood in all of them, and Lya and Brandon each had far more than a drop. And with the wolf blood came a certain pride as well. "I fear that Mya being there, in the halls would be a constant reminder to her. That you did take another woman's bed."

"We weren't even betrothed back then." Robert said with a sound that was a mix between a growl and groan, he picked up speed as he walked so it seemed that he was almost marching away from Ned. Thankfully, he had always been quicker than Robert and was used to running after him so it did not take much effort at all for him to be able to keep up with him. "Why I am to blame for that? What proof of that is it for her to judge me?"

"She is not judging you, she's just concerned that's all. She wishes to be happy in her marriage, as we all do." Ned had been lucky in that, more than he had ever truly expected. In Elia, he found his happiness. Someone he could speak too and someone he could say nothing with, a mother to his children and a gentle touch to help guide him. Ned loved her more than any words could say, if he was a singer or a prince then mayhaps he would be able to find the ones that could put how he felt for her out into the world.

For now, all he could hope for was that she knew.

"I'll make her happy Ned, I promise you that I will." Ned didn't doubt for a moment that Robert believe every word that he said, that he would do his best to make Lyanna happy. But it was never so simply, Robert continued on. "But Mya is my daughter and I want her with me at Storm's End, I will have her brought to Storm's End. Lya will understand."

Ned could only hope that Robert was right, though he wouldn't be the first time he sounded sure of something and had turned out to be completely wrong. But this wasn't Robert being sure that they would be able to get to the kitchens, lift some blueberry tarts and get back to their rooms without being caught and instead being caught blue handed by Lord Arryn, no, this was his sister's happiness that his friend was taking into his hands. Ned didn't know what to do with that.

He considered punching him in the jaw but that had always been Brandon's way of solving a problem and all it would result in was Robert hitting him back, and while a brawl might be the only way to actually get through to Robert and make him actually listen to him, it was also just as likely to end with Ned having all of his teeth knocked out of his mouth and his eyes swollen shut.

So, Ned simply frowned and continued to follow Robert as they continued to make their way through the long rows of tents. Men of every kingdom diced and drunk and quarrled among themselves. Men from the Stormlands caught sight of their lord as they sat around a fire, roasting a haunch of a goat on a spit, and invited them to take part in it. It was burnt and bloody but Robert laughed and devoured his portion.

Robert glanced as two camp followers passed them by and Ned sighed, squires were washing the clothes of their knights in a small stream near the edge of the camp and a party of riding men rode out, dressed in light armour and armed with bows and boar spears to hunt. The whole area thrummed with life, laughter and curses filled the air with abandon.

After wandering around the tent city for a while longer, and after Robert had lost far more coin than any man should have against a Dornishman at dice, they decide to make their way back into the castle itself. The day was drawing on to the end at any rate, the sky turning a mix of pink and orange and the more subtle chill that had pervaded through out the morning was becoming more and more noticeable.

When Ned and Robert finally arrived back at the apartments that had been gifted to the Starks for the duration of their stay, there were two new guests in the chamber alongside Elia, Lyanna and Benjen. One was the tall, slim and elegent figure of Oberyn Martell. His good brother was dressed in robes of orange and gold silk with a belt encircliing them at the middle, he bent his head in greeting and smirked at them.

Oberyn's presence was in truth not much of a surprise to him, they had all seen the speared sun of House Martell flying high above the castle as they approched it. It would have to Oberyn who would come to represent the ruling house of Dorne as he had learned from his wife, Doran rarely left Dorne for anything. He was glad of that, Ned was not a violent man by any means, nor was he someone who gave into his anger readily when he did feel it. And if he did feel it and he did give into it, more often than not he showed it by being cold and distant to those he was angry with.

But if he saw Doran Martell right now, Ned was fairly sure that there was nothing and no one in the world that would stop him from marching over to him and knocking all of his teeth out. The memory of how he, his wife, his siblings, Lady Ashara and that little girl had all been used as pieces on a game board in the game between his Lord Father and the Prince of Dorne still filled him with a rage the likes of which he hadn't known, only the rage he felt when he had been seperated from his wife could compare.

Oberyn had been just as furious as he had been, only he had been the one to show it. They were very different in that. One that raged as bright as the sun, burning all those who stood against him. The other as much a cold and unforgiving obstacle as the Wall.

Hm, perhaps it turned out that he did have the soul of a poet after all. Who would have guessed?

At any rate, his good brother was not the suprising one in the room. That title belonged to Howland Reed. Like most of the Crannogmen, the heir to Greywater Watch was short. The only one in the room he stood taller than was Benjen while Lyanna could tuck the man under her chin.

There was something delicate about the man, something that reminded Ned of those porcelain dolls that some of the younger daughters of the lords of the Vale carried with them whenever their Lord Fathers or Lady Mothers brought them to court at The Eyrie or the Gates.

Howland's skin was pale, his head was topped with a nest of dark brown curls and his eyes were the colour of moss that was growing on the rotted tree trunk sticking out of a bog. A splattering of freckles ran over the bridge of his nose. An ugly purple bruise that was already turning a mix of a sickly yellow and green covered half of his face, blossoming out from his eye.

Elia was tending to that, a bowl of some herbal mixture in her hand and a damp cloth in her over, dipping it into the bowl and gently dabbing at the bruise, a look of both deep concern and deep concentration on her face as she tended to the other lord's wounds. Lyanna was sitting on the other side of him, smirking and for a moment Ned wondered if Benjen would have to be betrothed to a girl from the Neck in order to stop an incident.

"Lord Eddard." Howland spoke, his voice subtle, like a breeze of wind blowing through the branches of the trees. "I beg your forgiveness for coming into your apartments without your leave, sadly Lady Lyanna and Princess Elia were both most insistent that I return with them, my wounds apparently needed the most immediate tending too."

"Stop squirming." Elia commanded, sounding for a moment so much like Old Nan that Ned had to bite his lip to stop himself from chuckling. After a moment, he cleared his throat roughly and spoke.

"If you have my Lady Wife's permission to be here Lord Howland, than you have my permission to be here. Though I hope you know that you always have that." Ned focused his attention on the bruise, it did look painful. "Might I ask my Lord exactly what happened to his face that required you to be taken under my wife's most tender care?"

"I gained the attention of some squires, rough boys. All taller than me, all broader in the shoulder and all to old to be squires as well." Howland explained as Elia finished dabbing at the bruise and then placed the bowl down on the ground. "So, they see someone smaller than them and they try and make themselves feel bigger. And how better that it could be a "bog devil." Nothing that any crannogman is unused to, whenever they venture south of the Neck."

"At any rate. I owe the fact that my wounds are not worse to Lady Lyanna." Howland spoke as he turned his head to Ned's sister, any other lady might blush and try to dissuade such a notion. Lyanna merely looked up around at all of them. smirked and nodded proudly. "Fools the lot of them, they should have known better to tangle with a she wolf."

Robert gazed at Lyanna like she had just suddenly grown a second head. "My Lady, did they hurt you? Give me their names and I'll make sure that they aren't able to even look at you again."

"There's no need my Lord, thank you." Lyanna spoke as she rolled her eyes slightly while picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of her dress. "They were so shocked when I ran up at them, screaming at them that they were kicking my Father's man. And they weren't armed, so when I grabbed the tourney sword and started swinging at them, they ran for the hills."

Ned stared at his sister before he glanced at Elia, his wife nodded. He turned his attention to Howland, who nodded as well. Oberyn started laughing first, then Lyanna, then Robert and Benjen and then Ned and then his wife and then Howland. It took all of them quite a few moments before they were able to calm themselves, but while the laughter lasted Ned enjoyed it. Laughter had been a rare thing, as of late.

Once the room had fallen back into silence, broken only by the odd chuckle here or there, Oberyn was the first to speak again. "Sadly, I can not say the reason I am here is so amusing or interesting, I simply saw the direwolf of Stark flying so proudly, and thus came to see my sweet sister once again. And it seems I am in need to offer congratulations. Only one behind me now Elia, well, near enough."

It was only then that Ned noticed that Elia had discarded her furs and replaced her orange silk dress with a lighter white one that did not cover the slight swelling of her stomach. "Thank you Prince Oberyn, I shall make sure to write to you when the child is born."

"So long as you name it after me." Oberyn spoke and Elia rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath that Ned could not quite make out but was fairly sure was not complimentary.

"I must offer my congratulations as well my Lord, Princess." Howland spoke again, glancing down at the swelling of Elia's belly. He looked up at and into Elia's eyes, smiling softly. "Princess, might I?"

"Please, feel free Lord Howland." Elia said with a smile and placed her own hands on her lap and Howland smiled again, lifting his own hand and resting it on the swell of Elia's belly. Howland hummed and started to sing something in a language that Ned did not understand, he knew that those of the Neck had been closest of all with the children of the forest, interbreeding with them, perhaps something of their old tongue survived as well.

After a few more moments Howland stopped singing and brought his hand back and placed them on his knees, smiling all of the while. "She'll be strong, a Queen even if she wears no crowns."

Elia blinked slowly and Ned felt as confused as she looked. "I beg your pardon, Lord Howland?"

The Crannogman simply shocked his head, a small laugh escape from him then. "Begging your pardon, Princess. I did not mean to confuse you, simply got lost in my thoughts for a moment." Howland reached down to the floor and picked up a bag made of weaved together reeds and retrieved a conch shell, a light pink all the way through. "A gift for you, my Princess. For the child, in truth. Give it to her-to them, when they are old enough."

Elia reached out and took the shell, running her fingers over the surface of it before she placed it down on a small side table with a smile. "Thank you, Lord Howland. I will, you have my word."

"Well, this is all very, very interesting but it's late and I am starving. The feast should be starting soon." Robert spoke and Ned realised he was right, his own belly was also starting to grumble from the lack of food and demanded to be filled. Robert, Oberyn and Howland all left them right there and then to return to their quarters, or in Howland's case his tent, to go and get changed while the Starks changed in their apartments.

The Great Hall of Harrenhal was massive, Ned had never seen anything like it in his life before. It looked like all of the people of Winterfell could find a place in the hall and still have room to spare for twice that number once again. There were already a great number of people in the halls, dogs were wandering in between the tables looking for any scraps of food that would fall on the floor.

Their table was close to the dais, enough to show respect but also Ned noticed far enough away that they were unlikely to draw the attention of the King. Speaking of the monarch, he was sitting at the top of the dais and looked as wretched as he ever did, The Queen sat at his right, staring off into the distance but seeing nothing.

Lord Whent sat at the King's left, an expression on his face that Ned could not read but he did not look so happy as such an honour, to have the king dine at his table, would suggest. Not that Ned didn't understand, few wanted the king in attendance any more at their feasts. Even the prayers said to them were done whispered under breath.

Oddly enough, Princess Cersei was at the table but Prince Rhaegar was not. There didn't seem to be any sign of the crown prince at all and for a moment Ned wondered if he had been left behind in the capital. But he could not see why the king would have done that.

His wonderings as to where the Prince was ended soon enough as food began to be brought into them, a feast worthy of a king there could be no doubt about that. They began with a crab stew that had been freshly seasoned with pepper, an onion and leek broth came next and then a carrot soup season with the seeds of a ghost pepper from Dorne, so very hot that it burned his tongue and forced him to down all of his ale to quench the fire it had started. With all of them came bread and butter, the bread was fresh from the ovens and the butter melted and turned the bread golden as soon as it was spread.

Then came suet puddings seasoned with mustard and filled with beef and parsnips with an ale gravy, then came a pie filled with seven different fish with each of their heads poking through the crust. Another fish stew came, creamy and seasoned with saffron from the east which turned the creamy stock it was all served in into a light yellow.

Dressed water fowl was the next course, ducks that had been honeyed and swans that had been stuffed full of mushrooms and pine nuts, geese serving onions and peas and bread that had been fried in the goose's fat.

And once they were all stuffed with the great feast that had been, the sweet came next. Golden pastries filled with stewed apple and stewed pears and stewed raisins, the filling soft and the pastry crisp. A cake that was a deep brown, made from a drink that the Summer Islanders liked to make called rum, tarts and jellies and cream cakes and lemon cakes and lavender biscuits and honey cakes.

Ned had more than enough when the sweet had come, but he had managed a single slice of the rum cake before he gave up. Elia had done better than him, eating one of the pastries, a slice of the rum cake, a small honey cake and a lavender biscuit before giving up and joining him in lethargy. Her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes sliding shut as she hummed in delight.

And through it all, wines and ales were serve. He had tried some of the rum from the summer isles, figuring that if he had liked a cake made from the drink then surely he would like the drink itself. And he did, though the single sip he had of it had burned the back of his throat and sent his head spinning, making him wonder how the Summer Islands were able to walk if they drank this often.

A mushroom dripping fat when flying past his nose and struck against Lya's face, Benjen smirked and Lya looked as though she was about to throw her entire plate in retaliation when suddenly a silence fell on to the hall, all the pipers and fiddlers stopped their playing and the singers bent their heads. A man in a dark cloak strode forward from the corner of the room and took his place on a raised platform in the middle of the hall, a large ornate harp in his hands.

As soon as the prince took his place, and Ned knew that it was the prince for who else would have such a harp and take the pains to hide their identity?, he began to plucked at the strings of his harp, filling the hall with the sweetest of music. Ned had no ear for these things, he had no idea what was meant to sound good but this surely did. At least to him.

The music faded away, leaving a lingering note and there were many eyes that were wet. Many ladies were openly weeping, among them the Queen and Princess Cersei themselves. Elia brought up her hand to brush away a few stray tears, but the most shocking to him was that Lyanna was weeping as well. Holding nothing back.

The prince pulled back his hood, revealing his silver hair and many delighted gasps ran through the halls but Ned wasn't watching the Prince. He kept his attention solely on Lyanna. "Lya, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Ned, worry not. It was just a sad song, naught more."

Benjen of course took that moment to say something teasing, Lyanna replied by throwing her wine into his face. At that point Ned, considering the snoring that was coming from his shoulder, decided that it was for the best if they slipped away from the feast now and told both of his siblings just the same. Benjen nodded and stood first, Lyanna following but not before throwing a glance over to the dais.

And that night, and Ned dressed Elia in her shift and held her close to his chest, he could not shake the feeling of dread at the pit of his stomach. He wanted to tell himself it was just paranoia, that it was simply memories of what had happened last time. But even so, he wanted to be back in Winterfell as soon as possible. As soon as the tourney was done.

This was not their place.

This was not his place.

And yet Father was going to send Lyanna south and Ned could only pray that in this one thing, his sister was not like him.

End of Chapter Sixty

* * *

 **Welp, another one done.**

 **First of all, I would like to address a tiny change to canon. According to Meera Reed, Lyanna brought her Father back to their tent. Not apartments within Harrenhal, this was changed because I thought it was odd that members of the greatest house in the North, the Lord Paramount's family, apparently did not have rooms for them ready in Harrenhal itself.**

 **Anywho, that's another one done and dusted and the next chapter should be out before too long. All I'll say for now, is that it's a Cersei chapter but will feature a lot of other characters quite heavily.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed, please leave a follow, a favourite and a review if so. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated.**

 **With a lot of love and many thanks,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	61. Chapter 61

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Sixty-One

The first true day of the tourney dawned bright, the air was warm and held a sweet scent in it. It was as glorious a day of spring as Cersei had ever seen in her life. Cersei had been born in a summer, though it had been a short one and soon enough Winter had come on them again. Half her life had seemed to have been spent in Winter, it had been such a long one after all.

The smallfolk liked to say that a longer summer meant a longer winter, if this day of Spring foretold what the summer was to be like, she hoped the spring passed quickly and the summer stayed for as long as it could. Cersei also hoped that the beautiful day might send her husband into a better mood, since they had arrived at Harrenhal Rhaegar had fallen into a dark and depressing mood, barely even talking to anyone and not even manging to must a smile at the sight of her or for baby Rhaenys.

She had loved him for his pout, for the heaviness in his soul that seemed to weigh down his shoulders as well. It had made something in her want to reach out and take him into her arms, to run her fingers through his hair and to sooth what ever pain he bared on his own, to tell him that he did not have to hold it on his own shoulders anymore. But whatever pain her husband carried, he had no interest in divulging it to her.

It irriated her, when she remembered the earliest days of her marriage, yes at the start Rhaegar had been reserved and melancholy but that was simply who he was and of course he felt badly for that sickly wretch Elia Martell and her savage husband for being parted at his Father's order but Cersei had simply assumed that once they were both gone from the capital that her husband would begin to cheer more.

And he did, to a point. For all that Dragonstone was a dim and fearsome place and her lord husband had seemed to take a a downward turn in his mood, he also seemed more comfortable with talking to her when they were not under the eyes of his mad Father. Many nights, as she sat with him in his solar, he would strum his harp and sing her songs that would by turns make her smile till her cheeks hurt and made her cry till her eyes burned.

And once her belly began to swell with their daughter, often times Rhaegar would come to her and kneel before her and kiss her swollen belly and rested his head against the soft curve of her flesh. He would sing to Rhaenys as she grew and the memories were so sweet, that even thinking of them made Cersei smile. Those days were the happiest of her marriage so far, and she hoped that they would go back to them soon.

But there had been bad days as well, she remebered the night when Lord Sunglass had come to Dragonstone and had spoken to her Lord Husband. She had only found out about it later in the night, one of her maids had a brother who had seen Lord Sunglass's ship dock at the harbour and she had quickly told Cersei about it. Once the night and silence had fallen on the castle and Cersei was ready for bed, her husband came to her.

The Lioness feared nothing, certainly not her own mate at the very least, but that night when Rhaegar had come to her there was something in his mood that had unnerved her totally. He had been distant and cold, he sat in a chair at the corner of their bedchamber and had stared into the flames of the heath and would not respond to her no matter how much she tried to reach him.

That was the worst that she had seen him for a long while, but since they had arrived at Harrenhal his mood had taken more and more turns for the worse. Sometimes he would just sit quietly in their bedchamer and not speak to her, other times he would not come to their chamber at all and when she sent her guards to find out any information on where her husband was and when they came back, all they told her was that the prince did not wish to be disturbed and that her husband command her to get some rest.

And yet for all of that, his mood often flipped on the turn of a coin. Other nights he would come to her, seemingly wanting nothing other than her. He would kiss her deeply and hold her face in his hands, kissing down her neck, her chest, her stomach and then inbetween her thighs where the slight silver scruff of the beard that had grown would cause the tender skin to burn in the most beautiful way imaginable as his tongue ran soothing licks over the folds of her womanhood and sucked on bundle of nerves at the top.

There was still a pleasent ache in between her legs, on the nights when Rhaegar had wanted her he had been insatiable. Often demanding to take her again and again with very little rest and Cersei was not in the mind to refuse him, even if it did tire her so. Perhaps he was simply so insistent that she was with child before too long, concern for the succession of the throne motivating him, though the thought that she herself would not be enough for him to want her as he had stung something deep inside of her.

Whatever his reasons, he had not made any attempt to divulge them to her. She had certainly tried to, waiting till after he had spilled into her and was catching his breath and she had kept her head resting on his chest, glancing up at him and making sure she only had adoration in her eyes when she asked him if there was anything that might have been bothering his, wrapping a lock of silver hair around her finger as she whispered that he could tell her if there was.

Rhaegar had pressed a kiss to the smooth skin of her forehead and held her close and told her that there was nothing she needed to be concerned with, it had made her frown and she had wanted to insist that he speak with her about it but his mood had been so fickle as of late, a single breeze changed his mood and Cersei was so comfortable and warm in his arms that she allowed it to slip away and let herself slip into to sleep as well, but she promised to not forget.

The winds of chance seemed to be what decided if her husband would come to her as of late, if he came to her one night then it was likely that the next night he would not. It irritated her more than any words could say, but she could not command him to come to her which only made her irritation that much worse. On the nights she was alone in her bed chamber, she would pace the room, feeling for everything like a lioness in a cage.

Even Jaime had not been much of a comfort in this, the other half of herself being here with her as he was always meant to be gave her more joy than she could speak in words but he was almost always never with her anymore. Uncle Kevan had taken him from her side and was not letting him out of his side and according to what Jaime had said in the few times that they had been together, Aunt Genna and Kevan had been trying to find any way they could out of this.

Cersei didn't doubt that her uncle would command Jaime to ride hom for the Rock as soon as possible, were it not for the fact that doing so would offend the King. Her uncle, and her Father for that matter, could do as they liked but it made little differnce now. Jaime and her would never be parted again and she would kill anyone who tried too.

It had been a brilliant move on her part, she didn't want her Jaime to marry Lysa Tully just as much as Jaime didn't want to marry the insipid watery eyed little trout bitch, when she had recived Jaime's letter the idea had come into her head almost instantly. Kingsguard, Jaime had always wanted to be a knight. He would point his wooden sword at hares and command them to surrender in the name of the King and he had worshiped the idea of Arthur Dayne like he was the Warrior given form and flesh and thought.

So, the idea of naming Jaime to the kingsguard was perfect in every single way. She would have him always by her side and would have a sword that was only loyal to her around her and her husband and the king at all times. The knights of the kingsguard could not have children, could not hold lands or titles and most importantly could not wed.

So far, no word of Jaime's assention to the Kingsguard had slipped past those who had been the only ones in the hall to bear witness to the king's decision, which had included herself, Jaime, Ser Kevan, the King himself, Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Barristan Selmy as well as some serving men who had been in the hall at the time.

Jaime would not speak of it, not after she had asked him not too. Ser Kevan might have told Aunt Genna and sent leters to their Lord Father, but they would not allow word to spread any further than them. The knights of the kingsguard were sworn to silence and the serving men surely must have known what would happen to them if the king suspected that any of them had spoken about one of his decisions.

Cersei couldn't wait for the moment when Jaime would speak the vows and kneel, rising again with the white cloak over his shoulders. And she couldn't wait to see how Lysa Tully would react once she had seen that both Jaime and Casterly Rock had been stolen away, ripped as far from her greedy fingers as they could get.

The thought of that cheered her, and cause a smile to bloom on her face. Jaime was soon to be hers and no one elses and Rhaegar was sure to come out of his mood and be the man she had dreamed of marrying soon enough. All would be well, and Maggy the Frog could burn in the seven hells and spit out as many false prophecies till the end of time.

With her mood much brightened and more ready to face the day to come, she called on her maids to tend to her needs. She sent one down to the kitchens to bring her food so she could break her fast while commanding the other to dress her for the day to come. She was a princess after all, and she needed to look her best.

And look her best, she did indeed.

She had forsworn black and red for the day, while she did love wearing her lord husband's colours, black with her fair skin made her look half a corpse and she would not have any man nor woman harbouring any thoughts that she did not wish for them to have. So, Cersei fell back on to her favourite colour. The gown she was soon garbed in was a deep dark green, so to match her eyes. The sleeves were embroided with golden thread, showing lions and dragons prowling for their next meal.

The corset was studded with emeralds and more emeralds had been woven into her hair, for all her maids were fools at least they knew how to do her hair. A heavy golden necklace with three emeralds set into it was placed around her. Finally, her tiara was placed in her hair. Her maid fetched her a looking glass and Cersei smiled at her reflection. Not even the maid could claim to be more lovely than her.

As one maid carried the looking glass away, the other returned with food for her to break her fast. It was fine fare, and more than she asked for in truth but that made little matter to her. Porridge sweetened with milk and honey and had blueberries floating in it which were so tender that when she placed a mouthful in her mouth and chewed on them, a burst of tart juice flooded her mouth that made it tingle in a way that she delighted in.

Beyond the porridge there were eggs that had been only boiled to the point that yolk was still runny, bacon that had been burned to blackness just how she liked it, trout that had been caught freash just that morning, bread fresh from the oven with more butter and honey as well as honey biscuits, she had asked for lavander but she supposed she could not have everything she wanted. There was also a pitcher of cold milk, mixed with honey that refershed her well.

With her belly soon full, Cersei was ready to face the tourney with her mood considerably brightened. Her maids followed after her as she left the room, their heads bowed in deference as her own head was held high as they made their way through the long stone corridors of Harrenhal.

Ser Barristan and Ser Gerold were standing outside of the apartments that had been given to the king and queen, they nodded to her and Ser Barristan opened the door for her to walk in once he had called out that she was waiting to be allowed to come inside, and the king had replied to that she may.

Rhaegar was waiting for her alongside his Father, he was beautiful every single day of his life but he seemed even more so when he was dressed in a fine black doublet with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen stitched over his breast in fine red thread, fire opals shone on his fingers. He was even beautiful with the dark frown on his face, his own lovely purple eyes having darkened to the point they looked like onyx.

Even the King seemed to have managed to make himself look more splendid than normal, it was hardly much of an improvement but considering how he had been looking for the past year and more, any improvement was noticeable enough to mention. His hair was as long as it had ever been but someone had washed it and taken a comb to it as well, it was a wave of pure smooth silver that flowed down his back.

His beard was also still as long, there was little that could truly be done about it since the King had decreed that no man nor woman could carry a blade in his presence unless they were a Kingsguard, her goodfather feared assassins in every single shadow and every minor crime was high treason and plot to see him brought low. Even so, perfume had been woven through the beard and it had been washed as well.

His clothes had been changed and the stained purple silk robes he had been favouring as of late were replaced with heavy robes of velvet, red and black. Rings of jet and rubes shone at his fingers and he wore his crown on his head and he wore it proudly. And for perhaps the first time since she had come to King's Landing to ready herself for her marriage to Rhaegar, she saw her goodfather eating.

It was meager fare, some bread and honey and porridge but it might have been the most nourshing thing that the King had eaten in days. Aerys Targaryen was nibbiling on some of the bread when she came in, his indigo eyes narrowing slightly at her when she stood before him. The king lowered his hand and placed the slice of bread on a platter in front of him with the rest of the loaf and the jar of honey. "Gooddaughter."

"Your Grace, how splendid you look this morning." Cersei spoke, falling into a curtsey effortlessly. She may have despised the lessons that had been forced on to her in her girlhood, she may have resented that Jaime got to learn how to fight with sword and lance and mace but that didn't mean that she didn't learn her own lessons as well as only a Lannister could. "Are you looking forward to the tourney, your Grace?"

That seemed to have amused the king, though Cersei could not say as to why; who could ever say they understood how a madman thought? The King brought his fingers to his lips and licked the honey off them without a thought. "Oh yes, I should say that I am indeed. Very much looking forward too it. I cannot say that my son is the same, look at him. Sitting there pouting like a sullen little childhood whose nursemaid has just told him that he can not have another applecake. How any maid can stand to be around him at any point is a mystery to me?"

For a moment, her husband's perfectly white teeth were clenched so very hard that Cersei thought that might shatter in fragments like a porcelain vase that had been dropped on to the floor by a clumsy servant. When Rhaegar finally spoke, she noticed that his eyes had darkened so that they more resembled the indigo of his Father rather than the lovely soft violet of his Mother.

"I needed to speak with Mother, it was important Father. I still don't understand why you sent her and Viserys back to the capital." That came as a surprise to Cersei, the King had never seemed to care for the queen or treat her with any gentleness but he also should have known how odd it would look if the Queen wasn't there at his side for the rest of the tourney.

"I do not need to explain myself to you boy, Your Mother is my wife and your brother is my son. I am the King. If I want them both sent back to King's Landing then that's what I will do and I shall not be questioned by you. Do you understand me?" Rhaegar's features quivered for just a moment, barely constrained rage hidden just under the surface she knew but as soon as it was there it was gone and her husband simply gave his Father a tight nod.

Cersei might not care much at all for her goodmother, even less so for that little brat Viserys, the humilation and the rage she had felt when the little bastard had said that he still believed it was Elia Martell and not her that his brother should be marrying still burned in her memory, but she did care for her husband and it was hard to pretend that the way his Father was speaking to him did not infuriate her.

Well, she wouldn't have to pretend for much longer. Aerys Targaryen, Second of his Name, King of the Andals, the First Men and the Rhoynar. Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm was not a young man and men older than him that were also stronger had died. He was not long for this world, and those men did not have enemies in every kingdom.

But Cersei Lannister simply smiled sweetly and sat down at the table, pouring herself another cup of milk from one of the flagons on the table and brought it up to her lips. She pursered her lips as the thick and cloying taste filled her mouth, someone had added far too much honey to the drink and it was overly sweet. Still, she finished all of the cup regardless.

They all stayed in silence, aside from the sound of the king chewing at his bread, before a knock came at the door and the voice of Ser Barristan informed them that the tourney was ready to begin. The King smiled then, he showed too much teeth and Cersei's stomach rolled in disgust and a feeling of nausa came down on her and for a moment she wondered if she had too much to eat this morning.

If the King, or her husband, noticed her discomfort than neither of them cared to say anything about it. Rhaegar at least offered her hand so as to help her up before they left the chambers and began to make their way to the tourney grounds.

There was not a single cloud in the sky when they came on to the tourney grounds outside of Harrenhal and the sun was blazing hot above them, so much so in fact that she had to retrive a silk fan from her sleeves in order to stop herself from becoming to heated. She overheard a pair of serving men speaking of how hot it was, how if it was this hot in spring then what would summer be like and how hot it must be in Dorne at the moment.

The King and the royal family had pride of place as could only be expected and was only right, a large wooden platform in the middle of the benches with a large purple velvet awning to give them some shade from the sun. A large ornate chair embedded with gold and jewels with a plump red cushion was King Aerys's seat, two smaller and less grand seats were at the the King's left and right. Rhaegar took the right seat, the place of high honor while Cersei most content herself with the left.

A great deal of of the attending lords and ladies had already taken their places in the benches, it would not do for the King to wait on his subjects after all. A dozen banners fluttered in the wind but Cersei only knew those of the most important of houses. The grey direwolf on white of House Stark, the prancing Stag of House Baratheon, the sun ran through with a spear of House Martell and of course the Lion of House Lannister.

As she glanced around the stands, she caught sight of black eyed, brown skinned, flat chested Elia Martell sitting next to her savage of a husband who seemed to be suffering more than most under the heat of the sun. Two youths, a boy and a girl, who going by their features could only be siblings to Eddard Stark sat to the side of the brother. At the side of Elia Martell was a Dornishman who looked somewhat vaguely familar, it took her a moment to recognise Oberyn Martell.

Sitting close to them was a short man that she did not know, his eyes were as green as moss. Like lillypads, she thought. Cersei turned her gaze away from them to the other side of the royal box. With her red hair, it did not take her long at all to find Lysa Tully and her Father, the younger girl seemed to have felt her gaze on her because she soon turned to look at her and smiled up at her, Cersei smiled back. The feeling of victory was already brewing in her chest and she didn't want a moment of this to be spoiled.

So, she gave Lysa Tully that smile, it would be the last one she ever gave her. Cersei turned her head away after a moment and settled back into her chair, enjoying the beautiful day that would hearld all of her victories coming to bloom.

The six white knights of the Kingsguard took their place in front of the royal box, despite the heat all around them the six sworn brothers all were clad in heavy white plate and white helms with silk white cloaks flowing down from their shoulders. If the truth was to be told she didn't like the idea of Jaime being in white, it wasn't his colour but he wouldn't have to wear it all of the time. Only when he was on duty to the king, then he could come to her dressed in gold and crimson and green.

A heavy silence fell on the crowd as the herald commanded it be so in the name of the King, the only noise that was left to be heard was the sound of footsteps and a quiet mummering that was going through the crown when they realised that something was happening that was not something that happened at most tourneys.

Jaime appeared in front of the royal box, grabbed in a green doublet that matched his eyes and made Cersei realise how truly beautiful he was, and bent his knee in front of the box and kept his head bowed for a moment before he looked up at the King. "Your Grace, I am Ser Jaime of the House Lannister of Casterly Rock. Long has my family counted itself fortunate to be favoured by his grace."

"My own Lord Father once served as your hand, my lady sister is wed to your son and heir and will one day be a queen as fine as Queen Rhaella herself, we have recived many blessings from his grace and our gratitude and loyalty to your know no bounds. It is for all this, that I would beg the honor of serving your Grace in what I believe is the best way that I know how too."

"When word of Ser Harlan Grandison's death reached us at Casterly Rock we were all of us shocked and thrown into deep grief, a nobler knight there has never been and he died in service to his king and his reward no doubt is the finest of the Seven Heavens. But while he enjoys the delights of the gods we are left behind and while his place can never truly be filled, the spot in the sworn brotherhood of the Kingsguard needs to be filled with someone to ensure that his grace never lacks for protection."

"I would his grace my sword and my life, my glories and my honours, I would forsake any claims to lands and titles and trade them for a white cloak to serve your grace." The murmuring that went through the crowd turned into a massive muttering, like a thousand angry hornets had swarmed into the stands. Cersei chose that moment to glance back to Lysa Tully and she could not stop the smile when she saw how her skin had paled, her blue eyes had widened and her shoulders were shaking. Her Lord Father's face had turned as red as his daughter's hair.

Jaime had said the words as he was meant too, the part played beautifully and now it was the King's turn as he stared down at her brother with his dark eyes, tapping his fingers against the armrests of his chair before he spoke again. "Your efforts of valour against the Kingswood Brotherhood is well known Ser Jaime, you squired for one of my own Kingsguard, is that not so Ser Arthur?"

"It is indeed your Grace." Ser Arthur said from below, his voice muffled by his helm but even with it on his head Cersei could still hear the influence of the Rhoynish in his voice. "Ser Jaime served with valour and distinction and a great deal of bravery, he may indeed have the stuff of a great knight."

The King hummed for a moment before he spoke again. "Ser Gerold, you are the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; it would fall on to you to oversee the initiation of Ser Jaime. What say you?"

Cersei knew it didn't truly matter what Ser Gerold actually thought, the king had already made his decision to include Jaime into the kingsguard. All of this was simply a bit of a show for the lambs, to allow the word of this to spread as quickly as it could through all the Seven Kingdoms. Which worked well for her, let all men and women knew that no one would ever be able to have Jaime.

The White Bull spoke then, his voice was so deep that Cersei almost imagined his helm would be echoing from the inside of it. "The place that Ser Garlan has left needs to be filled your Grace and Ser Jaime is a fine warrior from all that I have seen, and to be sure he is younger than Ser Harlan was. Much younger, there is little chance of him dying in the night."

He had been an old man, a very old man in point of fact. He probably would have died soon anyway even without her putting the sweetsleep in his wine. She would have been glad to let him go on living but she needed a spot open in the kingsguard for the plan to work and Ser Grandison had been the perfect candidate, old men died all of the time.

And Pycelle and the old man's squire was just as guilty as she was, Pycelle had always been her Father's creature and so having a Lannister sword perfectly placed must have seemed to him like a perfect idea and by the time he realised that the Lannister sword was going to be Jaime's, Harlan Grandison was on death's door and naught could be done.

And the squire had almost been willing to be rid of the man, he had been serving the old knight as a squire since he had been a boy and he was near twenty and five now. She wondered if she had paid too much by offering him a knighthood for putting the sweetsleep in his wine but Meryn Trant had done it all perfectly and soon enough he had been left with no master to squire for.

A Lannister always paid her debts and with a few sorrowful words and some well spent tears, Rhaegar Targaryen had knighted the man and that had been the end of it. The man had risen as a knight and he know to keep silent about it all, for he knew that if he spoke even a word then it would be the end of his life but Cersei would be sure to keep an eye on him anyway, she had come too far to let anyone ruin anything now.

"Very well then, I accept your oath of service Ser Jaime. Ser Gerold, see to the incitation if you would." Once the King had finished speaking, Jaime stood to his feet and the white brothers surrounded him like a flock of doves and lead him back to the castle, he would take his vows in the sept before the eyes of the gods and when he returned he would be a knight of the Kingsguard and any hope that Lysa Tully had of stealing what was her would be gone in that entire moment.

A rough sob escaped and everyone watched as Lysa Tully ran running from the stands, her face buried in her hands. Hoster Tully stood, his face was stone and his teeth were clenched tightly to the point that Cersei was sure she could hear them grinding against one another even from where she was sitting, and then followed his daughter out of the stands.

Once the speaking in the stands had died down, it was time for the tourney to start. The lists would take place on the second and third day and the archery competition would take place on the final day. On this first day, it was the day of the melee.

As the fighters arranged themselves on the grounds in front of the stands, Cersei caught sight of Elia Martell leaning over and whispering something into the ear of the girl who was sitting next to Eddard Stark. She frowned in that moment but she gave a nod that was so tight that it might have looked to anyone that the girl was terrified that her head would fall off.

Robert Baratheon strode up to the stands and spoke to the girl, he was a handsome man she had to admit with his thick black hair, clear blue eyes and thick muscles. He was nothing compared to either Jaime or Rhaegar but anyone who found herself wed to him would surely not complain that she was wed to an ugly man.

The young Lord of Storm's End spoke to the young woman and held up his arm, the Stark girl leaned forward and wrapped a scrap of silk around Lord Robert's wrist and the grin he sported afterwards it almost seemed like it was far too large for his face.

The Melee began quickly and ended almost as quickly as well and Robert Baratheon won the day with his warhammer. The final tally of injuries came to four broken arms, two broken legs, over a dozen shattered ribs and a fracture skull. The melee was over so quickly that after a discussion with the master of revels the King decided that the first round of tilts would be brought forward today.

The lords and ladies were allowed a moment to refresh themselves and once they had returned to the stands, the first tilt was about to begin. Cersei frowned as she looked at the two men on their horses armed with their lances, one was Ser Barristan and the other man was a stranger to her when he should not have been. At all. Something was wrong.

Cersei turned to the king and tried her best to smile. "Begging your pardons your Grace, but is Ser Jaime still in the sept taking his vows? I thought he was to be the one riding in the first tilt against Ser Barristan."

The king did not even glance at her as he spoke. "He finished swearing his vows but I have sent him back to the capital, to ensure the safety of my wife and child." He glanced at her there was something in his dark eyes that made Cersei realise that she was on rotten ice, if she said the wrong word now that she would find herself tied to a pyre and be burned to ashes.

And so, Cersei Lannister smiled brightly and settled herself into her chair all the while she was screaming inside as she watched the event carried on as every moment that passed Jaime was getting further and further away from her.

She stopped paying attention, she clapped her hands when all the others clapped and watched with a princess's grace as all the other lords and ladies let out loud and ragged cheers as lances exploded into splinters when they were slammed into shields and breastplates. The tourney stretched on as lesser knights, not even one close to having Jaime's skill was knocked out of the rounds.

The most interesting thing that happened was when a knight in mismatched armour beat three knights in a row and commanded them to teach their squires honour, whatever that meant. The King commanded the knight to unsaddle himself from his horse and take off his helm. The knight with the shield of the laughing tree did not unsaddle himself, he turned and rode off.

The King had shrieked in outrage and commanded that the knight be brought to him, sending knights lead by her husband to find the knight and bring them back. Her husband returned too with the knights with nothing to show but the shield of the knight, apparently they had found it in the godswood hanging off of the branch of a weirwood.

The knight of the laughing tree, as the commons started to call him, became something a legend. The King had become enraged at being so openly defied and commanded that if the knight was brought before him, he would make the man who did so a lord.

By the time all of that was done the day of the tourney was coming to an end and they all made their way back to the castle where a small feast was waiting for all of them. She had no hunger in her, she was still furious about Jaime being sent away from her. She would need to send a raven to King's Landing as soon as possible, once enough time had passed for Jaime to reach to King's Landing. She picked at her pie and sipped at her wine as she waited for enough time to pass she could go without it being seen as strange.

The Stark girl caught her sight again and she seemed pale and her older brother seemed worried about her for some reason, aside from looking pale she also looked like she was in pain and tired as well and her brother could not tempt her to eat at all no matter how he tried too.. What made her more confused, and angry, was that Rhaegar seemed to be watching her as well. She picked herself up once she saw that and stormed off. She wanted to see her daughter.

After an hour spent with Rhaenys, she made her way back to her apartments and found Rhaegar sitting at the table, a goblet of wine in his hands. He looked up at her and sipped at wine. "Fire and Ice."

"What?"

"Would you say you are Ice? I don't think so, you bright and golden. Burning like the son, a lioness of the rock. There is nothing icy about you and there was nothing in that scroll about marriage, only that the children must be from Ice and Fire." Her husband laughed then, it was a rare sound and she had always loved it but this one was different, this one was something cold and bitter. "Prophecy is a fickle bitch, you know?"

"I'm tired Rhaegar, I shall see you in the morning." Cersei walked over to the door that lead to the bedchamber and walked inside, crawling inside her bed and closing her eyes to sleep.

And as she slept, she knew that Rhaegar did not come to her. Her bed was empty when she woke and pushed herself up and had her maids dress her and moved herself out of the room and made her way to the tourney grounds.

She took her place in the stands and watched as the jousting carried on, cheering when her husband took the field as she knew she had too and when he defeated every challenger including all of Lord Whent's daughters brothers who also served as defenders of her title. Soon, Rhaegar won the day and a crown of blue winter roses was placed on the tip of his lance.

That sight was enough to rid her of the bad mood that had plagued her since Jaime had been sent off, but it was nothing compared to it when Rhaegar rode passed her and a gasp went up from the gathered lords and ladies of Westeros, how all the smiles died in that moment. Cersei followed him with her eyes and for a moment, she thought the gods were playing a sick jape on her and he was crowing Elia Martell to be his Queen of Love and Beauty, just as Jaime had done.

But no, it wasn't to Ned Stark's wife that he was offering her crown too. He was offering it to his sister and when she didn't take it, he took the crown from his lance, throw the lance down on the ground and crowned her himself. It was too much in that moment, it was all too much. Cersei jumped up from her chair, her cheeks burning with shame as she marched away.

All the lords and ladies in the Seven Kingdoms, and they had seen how she was shamed. She stormed her way back to the apartments she shared with her husband and marched over to the window, placing her hands on the window ledge.

Her rage was terrible to bare and when something wet and cold hit her hand she wanted to curse the gods seven times over for making her this, for giving her the week and feeble body of a woman and the heart of one as well. But when she brought her hand up to rub away her tears, her hand came away bone dry.

Cersei glanced up at the sky then and she frowned, not understanding anything any more.

It was snowing.

End of Chapter Sixty-One

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 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review and a follow and a favourite.**

 **Next chapter, well we see how the starks and Robert react to Lyanna being given the crown, obviously Ned's probably going to have a worse reaction since the last time something like this happened...it didn't end.**

 **With lots of love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	62. Chapter 62

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Sixty-Two

It was a beautiful crown, she imagined that lot of girls would have loved to be given one just like it, most would have loved to be given such a crown by a prince and even more would love it if such a crown would give them the title of Queen of Love and Beauty, essentially giving them the title of most beautiful woman in all of Westeros.

But Lyanna Stark had not asked for the crown and she had not wanted it either but that had not stopped Rhaegar Targaryen from giving it to her in front of everyone from every corner of the Seven Kingdoms it seemed like. She remembered how silent it had grown when the Crown Prince had placed the crown of blue flowers on top of her head.

But all she had done was glanced at the royal box, something inside of her wanted to see how Princess Cersei was reacting but all she saw of the Princess was her back as she retreated from the box. Lyanna felt terrible for her, to have her husband crown someone else something that by all rights belonged to her and on top of that, to compound her shame, to have it happen in front of all the lords and ladies of Westeros.

Not that it was much better for Lyanna herself, the moment those blue petals had touched her brow the whispers had started and every single pair of eyes in the stand had turned to her. And not all were friendly. Word of what would happen would reach every single corner of all seven of the kingdoms and soon every person in all of Westeros would be wondering for how long the only daughter of Lord Rickard Stark had been sleeping with the heir to the throne.

But she could bare their scorn, quite readily, if only Ned would talk to her. If only he would look at her. She had seen the look on his face when Rhaegar had done what he did. For half a moment she thought that Father had appeared out of nowhere and had replaced Ned, his face had been a mask of stone that the Lord of Winterfell always seemed to possess. Father always had that face on when he was furious but would not shout and scream and threaten, he would just put on that mask and you would feel in the air that he was angry with you.

The mask fitted Ned far too well for her liking, her sweet and shy older brother whom she loved more than anything was replaced with a stranger that she was uncertain that she could trust. At this moment more than anything, she missed Brandon. Brandon would never be able to wear that mask, when Brandon was angry he would shout and scream and curse your name and would seethe in his anger, more fire than ice, but you would be able to tell when to give him a wide berth and when he stopped being angry with you and was ready to speak as a friend again.

But with Ned and her Father, when they were worth, it was like you were standing on rotten ice. It was already cold on the surface but one wrong move and you could find yourself plunging below into even colder depths. Brandon never cared though, it didn't matter how much disapproval their Father or Ned ever showed him, Brandon would always laugh and jest and tell Ned that he was too young to look such an old man.

But Brandon was gone, fled from Winterfell in the dead of night with his lover who was the lady-in-waiting to their goodsister and her babe. His babe. She still didn't believe it, that little Lauryn Sand had been her own niece. It should have been something she had already known, only the thick dark hair seemed to have belonged to her Mother and the way that Father had doted on the little bastard girl...

It was something she should have seen.

She hoped Brandon was safe somewhere with Ashara and little Lauryn, that they were somewhere warm and happy together. Father had said that Brandon had been foolish, bur he was her brother still. When Ned had been sent off to the Eyrie it had been in Brandon's arms she had cried, whenever a storm brewed over Winterfell and she knew that she could not go to Father, it was Brandon's bed that she crawled into. Brandon was her big brother and would always keep her safe, it was the only truth she knew.

She hoped he was thinking of her, wherever he was. She always imagined Brandon being there when she was forced into that endless bond of marriage, he would sit and jest with her all through out her wedding feast to try and cheer her, would glare at her husband and would make clear to him in no uncertain terms what he would do to him if he hurt her, regardless of if the law saw them as brothers or not.

And Brandon would protect her during the bedding as well, he would not have been able to stop it she knew but he would glare at all the men who carried her to her wedding bed, would keep a close eye on any who looked like they were about to take any liberties and would make certain to punish all of them later for it. Brandon would keep her safe, as he always had. But now, he could be all the way across the Narrow Sea for all she knew and could not protect her from anything.

Ned would protect her too, she knew. But it was a double edged sword, for all that she knew that Ned loved her as much as she loved him, he was just as much Robert's brother as he was hers. He had been raised with the Lord of Storm's End at the Eyrie when both were just little boys cast out from their homes and Ned loved him as a brother because of that, and for the love that Ned bore him he could not see what she saw.

Robert Baratheon was certainly very comely, with thick black hair and blue eyes and muscles that could only have come from swinging that warhammer of his he liked so much in hundreds of battles and tourney melees, he had certainly fought well in this one. He laughed well and easily and had been trying to be nice to her, she was not blind to that.

But no matter how hard she had been trying to convince herself that she might be able to find some sort of happiness in her marriage, her thoughts kept coming back to all the whispers she had heard about her betrothed. About a little girl fathered on a common woman in service to House Royce, her thick black hair and bright blue eyes like a mountain lake leaving no doubt in any mind who her Father was.

The first time she had heard those whispers she had gone straight to Father, she had been younger then, only thirteen and she still believed that her Father hung the moon in the sky at night and had commanded the sun to rise in the day. She was so certain that once she told him what she had heard about Robert then he would call the betrothal off, he had too. He wouldn't want her to be married to someone like.

But when she had told her Father what she had heard he had simply sighed and sat her down in a chair in front of the heath in his solar and had knelt down in front of her, that she would remember for the rest of her life for she had never seen her Father kneel to anyone before. He was Lord Paramount of the North and the Warden of the North in the name of the King as well as it was only the King that he ever needed to kneel too.

But he had knelt before her then, he had cupped her face with his large hands and had pressed a kiss to her forehead. When he had smiled at her, he looked so sad. Then he explained to her about the world, why it was perfectly normal for men to have bastards and that it would be more odd if Robert did not have one or two, even worrying.

Lyanna had tried to explain to him then why she was worried, why she didn't want to marry him but Lord Rickard had replaced her Father by then and he replied to her that she had a duty to their house and that the betrothal would not be called off, Robert would not have any need for other women once they were wed together and that would be the end of it.

But she had not been soothed, not at all. She didn't understand why her Father couldn't see why she was so unhappy, she didn't even want to be married. She didn't even want to be a lady most of time, most times she felt more like a boy anyway. She had always wanted to wear a sword on her belt and go exploring, beyond the Wall and across the seas. When she was little, Brandon had promised her that they would both become sellswords and make their own fortune.

And she had believed him so readily because Brandon would never lie to her, none of her brothers would ever lie to her or let her down or abandon her. Neither would her Father, she was sure of it.

And that surety had been smashed into pieces like a china doll being dropped on to cobblestones from a great height, they had all lied to her or abandoned her or let her down. All except for Benjen, he had ever been her truest companion, who she would train with in the godswood so they could avoid all of Father's many eyes inside the walls of Winterfell.

But Benjen could not help her with what she truly needed, which was to make an end to the match with Robert. Only her Father could do that and he would not now, and after what had happened to him with his heart she had given her word that she would not cause him any more trouble or grief, the Maester had said himself that any more could cause another attack and it could kill him.

She had given her word that she would do her duty and then her Father had called her his sweet girl and told her that he was proud of her, she couldn't remember the last time that her Father had told her that. And she had done it, she had surrendered her sword and had left the godswood and those secret sparring matches of her girlhood behind her, the time had come for her to grow up even though it broke her heard to do so.

No, the truth was that the match would go ahead no matter what she did. The music was already playing and all that Lyanna could do now was dance to their tune even though she hated the music and did not know any of the steps.

Except perhaps in someway she had gotten what she had wanted, now that Rhaegar had crowned her. Robert was nothing but easy smiles and great cheer at the feast after the tourney, he said of her crowing that all the Prince did was pay her a rightful due. But there had been something in those deep blue eyes of his, something dark and dangerous. Like the sea in the middle of the storm.

Lyanna had to wonder if he would demand that the match be broken, perhaps he suspected her of being Prince Rhaegar's whore as most everyone else seemed to think she was. She might have welcomed that once upon a time, let her be shamed and confined to Winterfell for the rest of her days. The maiden aunt for an infinite amount of nieces and nephews, she could be content enough with that.

But then she considered what the news would do to her Father once he heard it, more than likely it would kill him. Still, from what Ned had told her the Lord of Storm's End was somewhat obsessed with her so chances were good that he would not toss her aside so easily. Perhaps he would simply try and kill Prince Rhaegar instead.

She had to wonder how she had come to a point where having a lord kill the crown prince seemed a better option, she couldn't help it. Lyanna started to laugh, she laughed so hard that her sore ribs begged her to stop and tears were streaming down from her face. She imagined that if anyone was with her in the apartments at that moment they would think that she had lost all of her wits.

The door opened after Lyanna had managed to calm herself somewhat and Benjen stumbled in, her baby brother stunk of wine and stared at her like she was a stranger. "You're in a lot of trouble." He spoke, sounding very much like when he was five and he had caught her climbing the weirwood in the godswood and leaping from it's branches into one of the smoking pools.

Lyanna was about to respond that her brother could piss off but before she could Benjen tripped over his own felt and fell to the ground, for a moment her heart leapt into her throat when she thought that he had bashed his head open on the table but it seemed that the gods were showing some small mercies and he had managed to miss the edge of it.

Benjen sadly was of little help when it came to dragging his drunken arse to his bed and for a moment she had been considering calling the guards to help her but in the end she decided against it, there would be enough gossip going on about her she didn't need to add any more fuel to the fire. So, with a great deal of effort and pain in her chest, she finally got Benjen into his bed and left him there, praying to all the gods that he had such a sore head in the morning that he would wish that he had chocked on his own vomit in the night.

Her little brother had gone off with her older brother, Prince Oberyn and Robert for some drinking and talking late into the night while she was left on her own in the apartments as though she was a prisoner, though she had done nothing wrong. She had not asked Rhaegar to crown her, why would she want that? The guards themselves had been left orders that she was not to be let out.

It seemed that rule did not apply to her goodsister as Elia had gone not too long ago to go and get them some food, no one had eaten much at the feast now that she had come to think of it. It seemed there was nothing like a scandal to kill someone's hunger. She could still remember the King's eyes on her, that had made her want to shiver and find a corner to hide in for the rest of time.

Princess Cersei hadn't been at the feast, apparently none of her maids, her ladies or her husband could get her to come out. There was plenty of whispers being spread around the feast hall that night, apparently the Princess had threatened to make the Prince into a eunuch if he came near her or tried to touch her, no she was in tears and on the edge of despair and threatened to throw herself from the top of the tallest tower of the castle, no she had thrown a wine goblet at the Prince's head, no it was a flagon of wine.

Whatever had happened between the prince and his wife, his face offered no clues. It was a pretty face, she couldn't deny that. With that long silver hair, noble nose and violet eyes she could see why so many women spoke of him as being the most beautiful man that she had ever seen. She did not spend so long looking at him, she did not wish to give anyone any more reasons to spread whispers about and the Prince seemed to feel the same as he stared into the distance, looking at no one.

As she was lost in her thoughts the door to the chamber opened and Elia walked in, a flagon of something in one hand and a strawberry pie in the other. The smile on her face as she looked at her was one filled with sympathy as she placed the pie and the flagon down on the table. Lyanna's goodsister quickly retrieved two cups and filled them up with the flagon before handing one to Lyanna. "Now, I don't know about you but if anytime was a good time for a drink then I think now is it."

Lyanna agreed completely, draining her cup in probably the same amount of time it would take someone to blink. The wine made her shudder and made her feel like she had been punched in the teeth by a blackberry but it also made her feel a great deal better and she filled her cup up once again and nursed from it as her hand reached out for the pie which had already been handily sliced and brought a piece up to her lips and bit into it, the taste of strawberries bursting along her tongue.

Lyanna had never had a sister, she had never found herself wishing for one if the truth was to be told but if she had ever wondered what having one would be like then she imagined that it would be something like this. It was a sweet thought indeed, and as they drank from their cups and finished off the strawberry pie Lyanna felt better than she had done in a while.

They had finished both the pie and the flagon and Lyanna's head felt very light, Elia seemed to be handling it better than she had done as she smiled at her and took her empty cup from her hand and placed it on the table next to her own. Lyanna had leaned back against the padded bench they had been sitting on and shut her eyes tightly, the whole world seemed so far away and so dark and when a blanket was drapped over her she slipped away into the darkness.

She was only just underneath the surface however as when the door to their apartments opened and closed and she heard Elia taking to someone she woke up. Ned and Elia were standing close to one another Lyanna realised then it was more the door opening that had woken her up as their voices were whisper soft. As she sat up Ned turned to look at her and his face was stone and his eyes were cold, the mask was firmly placed.

There was a stench of wine around him but he did not seem overly drunk, so it was more as like it had been Benjen, Robert and Prince Oberyn who had done most of the drinking. Ned must have had some however as there was no chance that he would have allowed Benjen to get so stinking drunk otherwise. Ned stared at her for a few long moments and it was in moments like this when Lyanna saw how much he really looked like their Father, he was not as tall or as broad in the shoulder but he was a son of Winter.

"Robert is not best pleased, to say the very least." Was all her brother said to her before her brought up his hand to pinch at the bridge of his nose, he seemed older to her somehow. He had seemed older ever since Brandon had run off and he had been made the heir to Winterfell. Elia placed her hand on his shoulder and her brother seemed to have taken some strength from the touch and when Ned looked at her again, his eyes were softer than they had been.

"He is more wroth with the prince, cursed his name all about his chambers and called him words that I will not repeat in your presence and made threats that were unbecoming of a lord and in certain lights could be seen as treason." Something odd happened then, Ned's mouth twisted in a strange way that might have been called a mix between a smirk and a frown, as though he had thought of something funny and yet he knew that he should not find it funny. "Thankfully for all of us, we were in his apartments and the children born of wine are oft disowned in the morning. I'm glad that Brandon is not here, Brandon does not often make promises in his cups that he forgets and worse often tends to follow them up when he is still drunk."

It did not surprise her that Robert was in the habit of disowning but she said nothing of it, Ned did not seem like he was in the mood for humor and so Lyanna kept silent for the moment. She also said nothing of his words about Brandon, that would simply lead to an argument and it was one neither of them wanted to have at the moment. Ned spoke again. "Lya...I am uncertain what I am meant to say, or what to do. I have not written to Father and in truth I do not intend too, it might be for the best that we tell him when we return to Winterfell. We might be able to soften the news, somewhat. But I need to know, is there anything that I need to know?"

Lyanna had no idea what her brother was talking about but when she realised she let out a low and bitter laugh as she looked up at him. "You think that I asked for this? You think I am sleeping with the crown prince?" Another bitter laugh escaped from her mouth as she stood up from the bench and began to pace back and forth. "Do you understand how stupid you sound? I've met the man maybe half a dozen times, and spoken maybe thirty different words to him when all those times are seen together. How would I even have such a relationship, do you imagine that I snuck down from Winterfell and past Moat Cailin and through the Neck and down to King's Landing and back with no one noticing."

Ned was frowning and stood up so he was looking at her, when he spoke the voice was that of the Lord of Winterfell, he might not be one yet but he certainly had the makings of a great one. "I did not imply that you were sleeping with him, I'm sorry if that's what it seemed like. But Lya, there were thousands of women in the stands that day and Rhaegar Targaryen rode his horse past all of them, past his wife, and crowned you with it." Ned said as he gestured with one hand to the crown of blue petals. "Please Lya, tell me what I am to make of that. I can tell you what everyone else is."

"You're beautiful Lya, everyone can see that. Did you...Did you speak with the Prince at all, did you say something to him that might have been misinterpreted? Something that he might have misunderstood?" Lyanna wanted to cry then, but she was a Stark of Winterfell as well and she commanded her greif to freeze inside of her even as her big brother did not seem to notice how each word he said seemed to her a dagger being shoved through her heart.

Elia seemed to notice something, she strode forward and placed her hand on Ned's arm and Ned stopped talking and looked at her and then in that small moment the mask fell away and all Lya saw was her big brother and all she wanted to do was throw herself into his arms and cry and be safe from everything, from the entire world. Her brothers would always keep her safe.

But the moment passed quickly, Lyanna did not move nor did she say anything and the mask went back into place with a sigh. "At any rate, it does not matter. We are leaving in the morning, as soon as dawn breaks. Prince Oberyn suggest that course of action and I happen to agree with it, I do not care to think what the King might do if left to dwell on this." Ned turned his gaze away from her then to look at Elia, his eyes dipping low to take in the subtle swell of her belly.

In that moment, the anger and the sadness she bore towards her brother disappeared when she saw the fear that was painted on his face as clear as day. After what had happened at King's Landing she knew that Ned had never wanted to step a single foot below the neck once he and Elia were at one another's sides once again and this must have seemed like the cruellest reminder, that he could lose everything once again.

Perhaps for the first time, she was glad that her nephews were safe back in Winterfell. They would have to deal with none of this, safe behind those massive and ancient walls.

Ned looked away from Elia and looked back at Lyanna. "We need to get back as soon as possible, I imagine Benjen's not in any fit state to pack so I will handle packing his cases. Lyanna, I want you to start packing right now. The servants and guards have been told we've been leaving but know not to say anything, as soon as it's light enough for our horses to see by, we go."

Lyanna nodded and was about to go into her bed chamber and get started on her packing but something in her stopped her from turning and moving into the room, an sudden urge filled her and she knew that it was not something they might have had time for but she had to ask, to at least know that she had done it. "Ned, I'd like to go to the godswood. I want to pray and cleanse myself before the gods."

She didn't think she had ever asked to go to the godswood before, not that she needed to. She was a Stark and in Winterfell all she had to do was walk up to the gate and she could pray to the gods whenever she wished too but Ned knew her well enough to know that she had never been one to pray in the wood, if she went into the godswood then it was simply enough to clack wooden swords together with Ben.

Her brother looked like he was about to reject her request but Elia placed her hand on Ned's arm and when he turned to look at her Lyanna knew that she would get what she wanted. The sigh was the most tired sounding noise that she was certain that she had ever heard and when he looked at her his gaze was firm. "You may go, but I am going to send two guards with you to wait outside the entrance for you. The moment that the sky begins to lighten, I want you back here. Elia will pack your things while I pack Benjen's."

"Thank you, both of you. I promise that I will be back before the sky begins to lighten." Ned said nothing in reply to her, he simply nodded and went to the door and spoke to the guards outside the door for a few moments before he walked back and entered in his own bedchamber. Elia offered her a smile and followed Ned into the bedchamber.

Lyanna went in her own bedchamber and stripped out of the gown she had been dressed in for the tourney and the feast, it was pretty she supposed but it was hardly the sort of thing she liked to wear, all lace and frills. She replaced it with a more sensible dress of simple grey wool, one of her favourites. She pulled on her favourite pair of riding boots, some doeskin gloves and fastened a brown cloak around her shoulders with a silver clasp shaped into the head of a direwolf.

As she walked through the main chamber of the apartments to reach the door she glanced down at a plate of fruit and cheese that had been left to lay on the table next to the crumb filled pie tin that Elia had brought with her from the kitchen. More specifically she looked at the silver knife that lay next to a wedge of yellow buttery cheese. She knew that in truth that she would have no real need of it, the guards would keep her safe but she was also in a castle with a mad king and what seemed like a mad prince, she would take no chances. Lyanna picked up the knife, hid it in the folds of her cloak and made her way over to the door.

She was just about to open the door when she turned back, walked over to the table and picked up the crown of blue petals which she hide alongside the knife in her cloak and made her way back over to the door.

Allard and Thin Tommy were the guards on the door, men she had known her entire life and men that she knew she could trust with her life and men she knew that Ned would trust with hers. Thin Tommy didn't talk, at all. He had been born a mute in Winter's Town and had been taken in by her grandfather as a guardsman. For all Tommy didn't talk, Allard made up for it with every other word he spoke being a jest of some sort. He reminded her a lot of Brandon in that way.

The massive courtyard of Harrenhal was silent as the grave and bathed in the silvery light of moonglow, the castle was asleep and for a moment it seemed to Lyanna that she and her guards were the only people still left within it's walls. It was an eerie feeling and reminded her of Old Nan's stories about this place, of Black Harren and his sons and how they had all died in dragon flame and how their ghosts were still wandering the walls and the battlements and how lords when to their pillows at night and were founding in the morning, burned to a crisp.

Lyanna held no fear of sprits, she wasn't even sure there was such a thing but she couldn't deny that she could almost hear Old Nan's voice as she walked, could almost see her hazy white eyes hovering in front of her and hear the sound of her needles clacking together as she knitted a scarf or a shawl or a pair of socks for someone. Her Father always used to say that Old Nan had more wisdom than she spoke, Brandon used to tease her and told her that Nan was a witch and would boil her up for a stew if she wasn't good.

The gate to the godswood was shut and the guard on the walls was half asleep and he was not happy to be woken by their calls, for a moment she was afraid that his cries would wake the rest of the castle and soon everyone would come running including the king and he would think they were plotting something and have her tied to a stake and burned.

But that did not happen, she was committing no crime and while the guard grumbled while he went into the guardhouse he made no cry out for other guards. The gate was to be left open while she was inside and both Allard and Thin Tommy would keep guard, though it wasn't as though they had the right to stop anyone from coming in.

But there weren't many other northern houses at Harrenhal and those that were would most likely either have all their members be asleep or would prefer to pray to the old gods in the safety and sanctity of their own godswoods. The southron houses would not likely come to pray here either, she knew there were some that still kept to the old gods but again they would prefer their own godswoods if they were like her. But she needed to pray now, reflect and cleanse herself it could not wait.

While she much preferred the godswood in Winterfell, which felt more comfortable to her; older as though the gods were always watching her and while she was in there she was under their protection, it could not compared to the godswood in Harrenhal when it came to size. Like the rest of the castle, it was massive. Some twenty acres or near enough to make little difference. Her godswood could be fitted quite snuggly inside this one and no man nor woman would ever be able to find it.

But for all of it's massive size, it only took her an hour to make her way to the weirwood. It was massive as almost everything in this castle seemed to be, the branches stretched out in every direction and were as thick as an oak tree's trunk while the trunk of the weirwood itself could be at least three times as thick as the one in the godswood at Winterfell.

The ground was covered in leaves and roots, some of the leaves were still bright red due to having only freshly fallen from the branches while others had rotted to the colour of brown. Pine cones from that had fallen from the fir and cedar trees that had nestled close to the weirwood were scattered among the weirwood leaves alongside leaves of their own as well as small pebbles and all of it was covered with frost from the light snowfall that had fallen earlier in the day.

That had caused another uproar in itself had made everyone forget about her for at least a few moments, early spring snows were not at all uncommon in the North and the light snow that had fallen on Harrenhal was very light compared to them and over soon enough but this was not the North and it should not be snowing at all here when it had been as bright as it had been earlier. The King had demanded that ravens be sent to Oldtown to find out what was happening but Lyanna could have told what was wrong.

It was still Winter, the Spring had been a lie and nothing more. A Stark would always know, but the sun had been so bright, the fruits so sweet and the air so fresh that for a few sweet moments they had forgotten and then the gods had sent that light dusting of snow in order to remind them.

The mouth and eyes of the weirwood were nothing more than crude gashes in the white bark of the tree, nothing like the rough carving of eyes and a mouth of the weirwood back in Winterfell but now was not the time to be choosey. A weirwood was a weirwood and the eyes of the gods were on her and the time had come for her to do what she come her to do.

She retrieved the flower crown from the folds of her cloak and she examined the petals closely, blue winter roses were not so uncommon in the North and they were hardly little things in the cold and grew like weeds, she used to pluck them out of the cracks in the walls and make flower crowns of them all the time, mostly for Mother when she had been very little but she remembered making one for Father and placing it on his brow.

He had kissed her forehead then and told her how honoured he was in order to receive such a token from her and wore for as long as she had been in the solar, though she did not doubt he took it off when she had left the room. Still, the memory was enough to bring tears to her eyes and made her breath stutter for a moment.

Lyanna placed the crown down on the ground as she pulled off her gloves and then picked the crown back in her hands, her hands closing and squeezing and the thorns bit into her skin and rivulets of red began to run down the petals and stain them red. It was hardly one of the blood sacrifices of old, but it was all she had to give. She placed the stained crown into the gash in the trunk and fell to her knees and bent her head and begged for forgiveness.

"You know, it took quite a deal of work to make that crown you know. And blue winter roses are hard to find below the Neck, they burn quite easily in the heat." The voice was gentle, almost sweet and in it's own way soothing and yet it still sent a shiver of dread down her spine. She jumped to her feet and pulled the knife out of the cloak as she spun and found herself face to face with Rhaegar Targaryen.

If the Crown Prince of Westeros and the Prince of Dragonstone found himself afraid of her waving a cheese knife in his face than he did not show it, his lips almost seemed to twitch in something that might have threatened to be a smile. "Peace, my Lady, I did not mean to frighten you. Simply wondering what you were doing, nothing more."

"I'm praying, offering tribute to the gods and trying to wash myself of the shame." She had seen a small stream when she had been here the last time, once she had asked the gods to accept the offering then she would have gone to the stream and washed her face and hands, cleansing herself in their sight. Funny how all these little rituals she had hated as a girl came back to her now. "What are you doing here, how did you get in? They were guards on the gate." Not that the guards would have stopped him if he ordered them to move, he was the son of the King after all.

"Are there? I shall have to wait for you to leave before I can leave then. I came here when the feast had ended, I thought that you might come here. Well, I hoped you might." He stepped forward and Lyanna stepped back, keeping the knife raised in between them. Prince Rhaegar brought up his fingers to one of the branches and brushed away a dying smokeberry vine. "This was the last place that we had talked, after all."

That sent a flush to her face and increased the temptation to stab him by a great deal but all the same she had stayed her hand for not wanting to be burned alive or having her chopped off or being hanged. She hadn't meant to speak to the Prince that day, she hadn't even meant to speak to him at all but the gods must have their jests as men must as well.

It had been after she had rode away from the King and he had screamed for her to return, calling her a traitor and calling for her head. The armour had weighed her down and her ribs had been killing her as she had taken a blow from that Frey knight but all in the north had said she was half a horse and on a stallion she was the wind herself as she rode away.

Pursuit was not slow to follow and was not far behind and she had made for the godswood, perhaps the gods had been smiling on her then for the gate on the outside was open and she had rode through it, abandoning her horse and unburdening herself of the armour and the arms till all she was left with was the shield of the weirwood tree.

The prince and his men had found her with the shield hanging on the branch of the weirwood while she had been trying to climb another tree to hide up. She was brought down and for a moment she thought that was the end of it, the end of everything. But the Prince had sat her down and heard her explanations, his hands had been gentle and back then she thought his eyes had been very kind.

He heard her as she spoke of how one of her Father's men had been attacked by three squires, how she had sized a tourney sword and had scared them off, how she had befriended Howland Reed and how Benjen had as well, how they spoke of who those three squires served and how a plot had been hatched. How Ben had found out who they squired for, how Howland found the armour and the weapons and a horse for her, how she told Ned that she had a stomach ache and needed to return to her room to lay down and how Howland would see her safely back.

And how alive she had felt when it was her turn with the horse between her legs and a lance in her hand, when she had defeated all three knights and how she decreed that all she wanted for them was to teach their squires honour and how those in the stands had cheered for her. Through out all of it, the Prince had simply listened to her.

Once she had finished speaking, he had knelt in front of her and told her that by his honour that he would speak nothing of this. Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent had fallen to their knees as well and swore as did most of the knights and men at arms who had followed in hope for a taste of glory and honour and for a moment she had thought that maybe southrons maybe had more honour than she thought.

That illusion had been shattered quick enough when he had crowned her though. "You swore that you would not speak of that again, on your honour you said to me. Of course, I should not be surprised that you want back on your word. What you did it was dishonourable and it was disgusting, to shame your wife like that in front of almost all the realm? Why?"

The Prince said nothing for a moment as he looked at her before turning his attention away from her and looked at the weirwood. "Do you believe that your gods have power here? Do you believe that they have power at all? You must," He spoke as he gestured at the rough gash of a mouth where the blue flower crown now rested. "You gave them a blood offering, asking for forgiveness. So, you believe they have power, in someway?"

Many things in her life had come unexpectedly to Lyanna Stark, but a prince trying to discuss theology with her was certainly a new sort of absurd. Her hands throbbed at the mention of a crown and a drop of blood fell to own of the brown leaves, painting it red once again. "What does that have to do with anything? You pray to your gods do you not? You kneel in your septs and get anointed with oils and your septons read from their tomes and wave those foul smoke bellowing things about that's how you worship, this is how I do it. Do you think your gods have power?"

"I think they have a great deal of it, and I think you do as well." The Prince said as he shrugged of his cloak and placed it on the ground before he sat on top of it, not a single inch of his body in contact with the forest floor. "There are gods of fire and gods of ice, gods of the sea and gods of the sky. Gods of love and gods of hate, gods of peace and gods of war. And sometimes, they send us blessings and curses and trials yes, the hardest of trials when sacrifices must be made and terrible things have to be done for the good of all."

He was just as mad as his Father and she would cut him if she had too, she had already known that of course. What sort of a man would wait in the cold and the dark all alone in the barest hope that she might come here. She tightened her grip on her knife then, doing her best to show no fear. She a Stark, a She-Wolf and not even a dragon could make her fear. "And what do the gods say of me, My Prince?"

"Nothing or perhaps, everything? I do not know, I cannot speak to them." A low and bitter chuckle left his throat then, shaking his head, his long silver hair flowing around him and seeming to glow in the light of the moon. "I wish I could, it would make everything a great deal easier. Or, if not easier then it would at least give me some idea of what I was meant to be doing. But alas, I am left with writings of witches and mages and seers and prophets and must muddle through the best that I can."

Lyanna had no idea what was happening or what the Prince was talking about, but then her Mother would say that it was a fool's errand to try and find sense in the words of a madman and the maester would say that only a blundering idiot would put any faith in the words of a prophecy, wait long enough and any prophecy was like to come true she remembered him saying once.

"You're to wed Robert Baratheon, are you not?" The change of topic came so quickly that for a moment she almost didn't recognise the question for what it was but that seemed of little matter to the Prince as he continued to talk. "We're related, you know that? My Mother's aunt was his grandmother, I am not quite sure what that makes us but cousins is close enough."

She had known that but she hadn't forgotten that little detail in the swell of everything, she imagined that did not help the sting that Robert would have most likely felt from seeing her be crowned by someone whom he shared blood with. "I am to wed Robert Baratheon, my Prince. Which makes the shame of what you did worse, you realise that everyone now thinks that I am your whore? Robert does not see it that way and is not like to break the match, which will certainly make my Father and brother happy."

"But will not make you happy." The prince lunged on that opening like a hunting hound lunging for a pheasant, he folded his hands in front of him for a moment before standing up. "My cousin seems a man of...appetite, there are tales of course of that bastard girl of his in the Vale. Myra, Mia, something like that. He is a man of incredible appetite, you saw how much he ate and drank at all of the feasts. I imagine if it weren't for all the hunting and the fighting that he does then he would be massive."

"Tell me, a man like that, do you think he will keep to only one bed? I do not think that he will my lady, he sees your pretty face and naught else. None of your bravery or your courage or your skill at arms. He may keep to your bed for awhile, half a year, a whole year mayhaps. But, one day he will wake up and your face will no longer excite him and he will go exploring for new fruit."

"So you would recommend that I climb into your bed instead?" Lyanna spat with loathing, the rage came quick as a fire. The wolf in her blood was hollowing. "Instead of living with the knowledge that my husband is bedding whores, I should be your whore instead? Let your wife live with the knowledge that when you are not with her that you are with me?"

The force of her hate and her loathing made the Prince take a step back and Lyanna took a great deal of satisfaction in that, she did not step towards him but she continued to glare at him and kept the knife held up. "I do not know who you think I am, my prince. So, I shall inform you. I am Lady Lyanna Stark, daughter of Rickard and Lyarra, I am a northwoman and I am no man's whore, imply so again and I will do worse than kill you."

She put the knife back in the folds of her cloak, turned to face the weirwood and fell to her knees, bent her head and close her eyes and began to pray. "You may leave me, Ser."

The silence that followed was deafening, for a few moments she felt the Prince's presence at her back and one of her hands tightened on the handle of the knife one again. But the presence was gone soon enough and the prince left her, he would call up and all the guards would see that he left and the stories would be all about Harrenhal in the cold light of day but for that one moment she did not care.

When the sky lightened, she held true to her word and made her way back to the apartments. Allard and Thin Tommy said nothing and she loved them both for that, though she did wonder what they were thinking before she decided that she would rather not know.

Her brothers and good sister were waiting for, Ned and Elia both looked as tired as she felt and Benjen was so pale and looked like he was about to be sick at any moment. If she were in a better humour, she might have teased him for it but instead she simply nodded when she entered the room and Ned returned it and their party began to make their way down to the courtyard.

More of the castle was awake by then, she could hear the sound of a bucket being raised for a well and wood being chopped for Lord's heaths and cooks ovens alike. A group of eight bleary eyed stable boys were waiting for them in the stables and a gold coin was pressed into each of their and were told to bring their horses quickly and quietly.

A guardsman took a bag of gold coins up to the gatehouse for the main gate and once he returned to them, the gate had already starred to rise and the drawbridge was lowered and they slowly rode through it. They rode through the city of tents as slowly as they dared, so they would draw as little attention as possible.

Once they had reached the edge of the tents, they all seemed more relieved. Soon, they rode so far and so fast that Harrenhal was just a dark shadow on the horizon. When Lyanna looked back at it, she thought herself thinking only one thing.

That she would never come back here again.

End of Chapter Sixty-Two.

* * *

 **Okay, so my fingers are going to fall off.**

 **Anywho, all of that just happened.**

 **I imagine this is going to be a...controversial chapter. Keep in mind that things change and a character's opinion on the character doesn't always reflect the character themselves.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Please consider leaving a review, a follow and a favourite. Constructive Criticism is always welcome.**

 **With much love and thanks,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	63. Chapter 63

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Sixty-Three

She hadn't been able to stop crying, no matter how much she had tried too. Every single breath she took hurt and after she had breathed in, another fit of sobbing overcame her. Her eyes were red and raw from crying as much as she had been and it seemed just another little pain to be added to the list of pains she was made to suffer.

Lysa could still not believe it, it had been like something out of a terrible dream. When she had saw her betrothed standing in front of the King's box she had thought that he had looked so very beautiful with those golden curls and those emerald eyes. Not even the Prince could be more beautiful than him that day and when she had saw the Princess smiling at her like they were already sisters, it had been something out of the sweetest of her dreams.

And then it had turned into a nightmare when he had fallen to his kneel and had pleaged his sword and his honour and his life to the King and then the King had taken it all and had given him a white cloak in return. It had been so unfair, all her dreams turned to dust right in front of her and then everyone in the stands had looked at her with such pity in their eyes.

She hadn't been able to take it and so she had picked herself up and ran as far from the stands as she could get, as fast as she could with her face buried into her hands. She had made it back to the apartments that had been given to her and her Father and had taken refugee in her bed chambers and had thrown herself into her pillows and sobbed and sobbed.

Lysa was fairly sure that she hadn't stopped since that tourney, her Father ensured that they got back to Riverrun as soon as they could. Lyanna Stark being crowned by the prince was enough of a distraction for them to slip away even if she did not want to slip away. What she wanted to do was to run to Ser Jaime and fall to her knees in front of him, beg him to change his mind. Run to the King and implore him to reject Ser Jaime's vow.

But it was too late, it was done. Jaime had been given his white cloak and was now a sworn brother of the Kingsguard. Her Uncle had told her while he had been trying to comfort her that Jaime could not be released from his vows now, if he did then he would be an Oathbraker and there was no greater shame than to break an oath to a King, even if that King was mad.

But for all that her uncle had tried to cheer her, it did not work. The whole world seemed a great deal darker than it had done before and it did not help that she could tell that her Father was furious with her. Lord Hoster had always scared her, ever since she was a girl. She did love him all the same but he had always been fonder of Cat and whenever she had done something wrong he would always yell at her and make her feel awful and stupid and make her cry as well.

Often times, when she knew she had done something wrong, she would go and run and hide rather than face her Lord Father's wrath. It would be more often her Uncle Brynden who would come and retrive her as he always seemed to know where she was even if she chose a different hiding place each time. It did not matter if she hid herself in a cupboard, in an alcove or in the godswood the Blackfish would always find her and he would always coax her out. Hiding from Father only made him more irriate with her not that it ever stopped her from trying.

But even with all the times that her Father had been angry with her, and he always seemed to be angry at her and never angry with Catelyn and with Edmure, she had never seen him like this. He would not speak to her, he would not speak to anyone after what had happened. His face was pale and drawn and his eyes were dark as night.

Ever since they had returned to Riverrun Lord Hoster had confined himself to his solar and had not come out since, he took all of his meals in there and apparently had a chamber pot brought in so he could use the privy. He saw no one except his brother, the maester, the steward and the master-of-arms. Not even Cat had seen their father's face since.

Was the shame that had been done on both of them so great that he could not even bare to look at her anymore? How was that fair? She hadn't been the one who had been abandoned by her husband who had run off with a whore and left with child. Not as though that had stopped their Lord Father from travelling thousands of miles to go and get Catelyn back, something she knew that Lord Hoster would never do for her.

It seemed no one cared that Catelyn was damaged goods, Elbert Arryn did not seem to care. The heir to the Vale was not overly handsome with brown hair, skin that was too pale in her mind and a pair of large blue eyes but he was hardly a challenge to look at either. And he would one day rule all of the Vale just as Cat's former husband once would have ruled all of the North.

If he cared at all once he saw that Cat's belly was big with child then he did not seem to show it, if anything he seemed to have made it his mission to get her sister to be happy. Lysa might have found it in herself to be happy for her sister if not for the fact that all she wanted to do was throw her in the river to drown. It was an evil thought, she knew and yet she could not help but think it. Cat always seemed to get the happy ending, the sweetest prize while all Lysa was left with were the scraps and expected to be content with them.

She might have been one of the greatest ladies to ever rule in the land once, what castle could truly compare to Casterly Rock? She had never truly seen it herself but she had heard a thousand stories of it, a castle carved into a mountain with an endless amount of gold buried inside of it. And she would have been it's lady, before it had all been ripped away from her.

Another rough sob ripped it's way out of her throat at the thought and her eyes burned as another wave of tears began to roll down her cheeks. It just wasn't fair.

The door to her chamber opened and a maid come in, a mousy tiny thing with brown hair framing her face. She folded her hands in front of her and bowed her head. "My Lady, may I please bring you some food? Some bread and honey, or some fish perhaps?"

Her belly did rumble at the mention of food, she couldn't remember how long it had been since she had eaten. She must have eaten at some point between leaving Harrenhal and her maid coming in, otherwise she would have starved to death by now but she couldn't remember whatever it was that she had. The pain of her empty stomach at least distracted her from her pain and she nodded.

Her maid left then with a promise she would be in only a few moments with some food and Lysa sat up in bed even though her entire body seemed to be protesting at the movement. A porcelain bowl of water scented with rose petals was waiting on a table as her bedside with a cloth of white silk. She dipped it into the water and began to scrub at her face.

It didn't exactly make her feel better but it was at least a change from feeling tired and sad. Once her face was clean and she left the cloth to sink to the bottom of the porcelain bowl her maid chose that moment to return with a tray of food. Her maid did not look like the strongest woman in the world but that did not stop her from carrying a tray almost weighed down with food.

Her belly might have been demanding to be fed and yet the motions of eating seemed too great a task for her at the moment and so she simply stared at the food, wondering what Ser Jaime might have been eating right now. As they had been packing their cases to return to Riverrun another of her maids had told her that she had overheard that Ser Jaime had been sent back to King's Landing in order to protect Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys who had both been sent back the night before Ser Jaime swore his vows.

That meant that he would be in the capital by now, at court. He would have access to the finest of foods in all of the kingdoms, food that would make the fare of Riverrun look most plain by comparison. She wondered if he was thinking of her now as she was thinking of him? She liked to think that he was, perhaps his Father preferred his eldest daughter as well and wanted his son to be in the capital to protect her, he did have another son after all though Lysa was shocked that Lord Tywin would want a dwarf to be the Lord of Casterly Rock one day.

Her maid placed a bow of rose hip soup and lavender soup in front of her and cut a loaf of bread in half and began to spread it with butter and handed one of the halves to her. Lysa forced herself to dip it in the soup and nibbled half of it away before forcing herself to take a few spoonful's of soup as well, the sweet taste made her empty stomach roll.

Her maid sadly did not seem satisfied and looked as though she was about to try and make her try and eat more soup or make have some of the berries or some bacon or fish or whatever else she had brought to her on the tray but she was spared from that as for the first time in her life, she was glad to see her Septa as she walked into her bedchamber.

Septa Talisa wasn't as bad as that witch of a septa she had from her girlhood but she was still as wicked as only a Septa could be, the sight of her seemed to offened the heavy set older woman who scoffed at her and shook her head. "Now, my lady. This has gone on far too long as it is. We all feel a great deal of pity for you, what happened was terrible but your Father has heard word of how you lay about in your bed all day. Laziness is a grevious sin in the eyes of the gods and is below the dignity of a lady of a great house like yours, now come along, get yourself up and dressed."

She didn't want to get up and get dressed, she wanted to stay in her bedchamber and rest in the dark until all of the world went away but she knew that the septa wouldn't let her be and if she told her leave then she would just go and tell her Father and that would only make Lord Hoster more wroth with her and she didn't want that. She turned her attention to her maids. "Fetch Daisy and Tansy and have them prepare me a bath and then get me a dress ready."

Her septa smiled in approval and stepped outside the room as the two common girls came into her chamber with two large clay jugs filled to the brim with steaming water which they used to fill a copper tub. Her maid removed her shift and set out a gown on to her bed as Daisy and Tansy helped her into the tub, the warmth of the water made her all of her muscles relax and it was the best she had felt in what seemed an eternity.

Daisy scrubbed at her arms and Tansy focused on washing her hair, tending to the knots that had formed in her thick aurban hair. Once she was clean and a dried, she dismissed the girls and her maid began to dress her. With a fresh new shift on her she was soon dressed in a light blue dress with seawater pearls on the bodice and Myrish lace sleeves.

Once she was dressed her septa came back into the room and suggested that she might want to have a walk outside to get some air before coming to pray into the sept to gain some comfort. She wasn't sure what comfort the gods would give her but Lysa was not in the mood to argue with the old woman so she simply nodded and followed the godsworn woman out into the corridor.

The courtyard of Riverrun was as busy as it normally was, squires and stableboys running in and out of the stables, maids bringing up water from the wells and the sound of hammers clanging against metal coming from the castle forge. But all that Lysa cared about at that moment was the sight of Catelyn sitting on a stone bench with one hand on her swollen belly as she watched her new betrothed teaching their younger brother and his squire how to show arrows at their targets set up at the other end of the courtyard.

Lysa walked over to the bench and sat down next to her sister and watched with her as Elbert bent down next to Edmure and told him a better way to stand, adjusting him with his own hands. The feel of a soft hand taking hold of her own and squeezing it gently made her turn her to attention to Catelyn who gave her a smile. "How are you feeling? I am sorry that I didn't come to you sooner, but I couldn't leave Elbert and I wanted to give you some time on your own."

Her words and her touch and her smile and her kind eyes was enough to make her feel terrible for all of the dark thoughts she had thought of her sister when she had been laying in the darkness of her chamber. She tried to smile back, but she knew that Catelyn would see right through it. "I-I just don't understand what it was that I did wrong? I would have been a good wife to him Cat, I swear that I would have. I would have been pleasent and kind and meek and given him strong sons and beautiful daughters and never would have spoken to him harshly. Why would he do that to me? In front of all those people, am I so very ugly? That men would perfer a life of celibacy and service over me?"

She could feel the tears starting to well behind her eyes again but Cat was there, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her close and bringing her hand up to stroke through her hair just like Mother used to do. Or maybe it was Cat that she was remembering? She had been so young when Mother had died and there had been many nights when Cat had stroked her hair to give her comfort.

Of course, that thought only made her feel all the more guilty of what she had been thinking about Cat before and thus caused a fresh wave of sobs to escape from her mouth as Cat continued to stroke through her hair and whispered soothing words into her ear. When Lysa heard the sounds of footsteps, she thought it must be her septa approaching, come to reproach her for macking a scene that the stable boys would talk about over their cups later tonight but it wasn't the septa. It was Petyr.

He looked beautiful, as he always did. Dressed in a fine dark blue doublet with gold thread around the neck and the sleeves with a silver pin in the shape of a mocking bird over his breast. He looked tired, as though he had not been sleeping as of late and dark circles surrounded his mint green eyes. He glanced between both of them for a moment before his eyes landed on Cat and stayed on them.

"Cat." Petyr fell to his knees and took hold of Cat's hand, staring up at her from where he knelt. Catelyn stared down at him, too shocked to take her hand away. This was drawing more attention than her breakdown in her sister's arms. Ser Elbert had turned away from the range with a frown and the septa frowned and turned and hurried back into the castle, more than like to go and get Lord Hoster. The Septa knew what Petyr was about to say just as the rest of them did.

"Please, my Lady, for all the days of our childhood together. Please listen to me." Petyr spoke, his voice was as soft as a whisper and Lysa was sure that she saw tears in his eyes. "I have loved you, from the first day that I saw you. I swear that my love is true, the thought of you haunts me as I try and sleep at night and when you were wed to Brandon Stark and sent North, I thought my heart would be torn in two. I thought I would not survive the pain of it."

"When you came back, I thought that the gods had answered all of my prayers. I thought I would never see you again, and then I did." Petyr turned his gaze away from her face and glanced down at her belly. "Wed me Cat, please my love. Don't reject me. My lands are...humble, I will not deny it. But I will rise high, I swear it to you. And I will make your son, if the babe is a boy, my heir, all that is mine will be his one day. Wed Lord Elbert, and what will your son be? A bastard, tolerated in his halls but naught more. Please my love."

"Petyr..." When Cat spoke, it was so soft and so sad. And Lysa could see the no written all over her sister's face, just as Petyr could. In that moment, Lysa hated her just a little bit. Here was poor Petyr, pouring his heart out for her, swearing to love her, to make her child who was not even his the heir to his lands and Cat was going to reject him.

But it seemed as though the world was still willing to let Cat have everything, as she did not need to be the one who would reject him. Lord Hoster came stormed out into the courtyard at that moment, his face was bright red and his eyes were so narrowed that Lysa could barely see them in his face and his hands were clenched into firsts. Behind him, Ser Brynden, the maester, the steward, the master-at-arms and the septa hurried after him.

Lord Hoster grabbed Petyr by the scruff of his neck and hauled him up on to his feet and for a moment Lysa was terrified that her Father might strike at him. "Boy." The word was growled out as the Lord of Riverrun shook his ward. "I do not know what you think you are doing, but I am telling you now that I am putting an end to it. Come with me, now."

Her Lord Father began to drag Petyr towards the keep but he managed to slip free of his grasp and ran over to Ser Elbert and took off his glove, throwing it at the knight of the Vale's feet. "Ser Elbert Arryn, I challenge you to a duel for Lady Tully's hand to be wed. Do you accept?"

Elbert Arryn blinked, as though he did not understand the question. He stood a good half a foot taller than Petyr and Lysa's heart jumped into her throat at the thought of him fighting the bigger man. Mother have mercy, he was going to get himself killed. Perhaps the Mother had answered her, for Ser Elbert merely frowned and shook his head. "My lord, I do not wish to fight you."

"Then I name you a craven." That caused Elbert Arryn to narrow his eyes at Petyr but he was spared from retaliating as Lord Hoster chose that moment to intervene. Spinning Petyr around to face him, grasping his upper arms so tightly that Lysa was sure that he would bare bruises from the hold. But bruises would be the least of his concerns, he looked like he was about to kill him.

Lysa chose that moment to stood up and run over, hoping to find the words she needed to intervene. To save him. But Lord Hoster did not strike out, but he did speak. "I took you into my home, raised you alongside mine own children. I fed you and I clothed you boy, you. The great-grandson of a sellsword, a foreign sellsword. This is how you repay me for my kindess?"

"Do not touch me, need I remind you that I am a lord in mine own right?" Petyr cried as he shrugged out her Father's grasp once again, glaring at him with more heat than she had ever seen before. He turned his glare from Lord Hoster to Ser Elbert. "Well, what say you Ser? Will you accept my challenge or will you bare the title of craven?"

Ser Elbert was silent for a long few moments, he glanced at Cat and then turned his attention back to Petyr. "Very well my Lord, I accept your challenge." He turned his gaze to his squire. "Anders, come with me. I need you to get my armour and my sword ready." The boy, a little thing with blond hair and blue eyes nodded and Petyr then knelt in front of little Edmure.

"Lord Edmure, would you do me the honour of being my own squire for this duel in deciding your Lady Sister's hand?" Father looked like he was about to explode in rage, Edmure stared at Petyr like he had never seen him before in his life. Their little brother looked at Cat for a moment before he turned his attention on to Ser Elbert, a determined look in his eyes.

"Ser Elbert, might I squire for you as well as Anders in this duel? I can help!" Petyr looked as though Edmure had stabbed him in the heart with a dagger. All he did was let out a bitter chuckle. Ser Elbert said nothing, but simply nodded and made his way back to the castle with both boys scurrying after him. Petyr turned and hurried into the castle, most like to go to the armoury, his face a storm cloud.

Both men returned soon enough, Lord Elbert's armour was a finely made steel gorget, a steel breast plate with no decoration, a half helm topped with a plume of white feathers with a steel shield with the sigil of House Arryn painted on it in one hand, as Anders brought forth his scabbard from which the knight of the Vale drew out his long sword.

Petyr was armed with a longsword as well, but it seemed made out of cheap iron where Ser Elbert's was castle forged steel. Where Elbert Arryn wore a steel breastplate, Petyr favoured only a mail shirt, a leather cap on his head and he did not carry a shield. Cat walked over to her betrothed then and whispered something into his ear that Lysa could not here. Ser Elbert nodded, however.

Petyr looked even smaller in his armour, and when he walked over to them and asked Cat for her favour and she rejected him so coldly, he looked even smaller. Still, he walked back to his place and held his sword up high.

Lord Hoster had walked back into the castle, going back to his solar and washing his hands of the business he had said. The Maester had scurried after him like a little grey rat but the Blackfish and the Master-At-Arms had stayed behind to watch and their septa stood at the side of them, to watch them more like than to watch the duel.

The two men circled one another for a time, and when the time came to strike it was Petyr who struck first. He moved so quickly that his sword was a blur in his hand, but Ser Elbert brought up his shield to block it and then used the hilt of his sword to slam into Petyr's wrist. Even from where she was standing Lysa could hear the crack of bone and Petyr let out a cry of agony as he fell to the ground and dropped his sword.

As Petyr laid on the ground, cradling his wrist, Ser Elbert stood over him and pointed his sword down at him. When he spoke, his voice was not unkind. "Yield, my lord. You will not be able to fight with that hand anymore and you can not swap hands in the middle of the duel, your balance will be thrown off to start with. So yield, there is no shame in it."

With tears streaking down his face, Petyr croaked out his surrender. Ser Elbert put his sword down and held his hand for Petyr to take so that he could help him to stand up but Petyr simply took hold of his leather cap and threw it at Elbert's chest, struggled to his feet and ran away. Lysa's heart swelled with pity and she followed after Petyr as the rest of the castle gathered around Ser Elbert and cooed at him.

She found Petyr sitting on a padded bench beneath a window that overlooked one of the windows, holding his bruised wrist close to his chest and glaring down at the water as fish breached the surface and held in the air before the fell down into the river once again. "Petyr?" She spoke softly, not wanting to startle him. He might hurt his wrist if he jolted.

He did not jolt, he simply turned to look at her with the same dark look on his face. He scoffed at her, and that hurt almost as much as Jaime Lannister forsaking her for a life of endless vows. He turned away from her then. "Your Father will send me away, back to the Fingers. That little miserable rock that's stained of sheep dung, he will not forgive me for this. Will not overlook it, though I loved Cat more than any of the men he would sell her too."

Every word was a different dagger to her heart, but Petyr could not see that so Lysa merely wiped her tears away before they could fall and cleared her throat. "I will speak to my Father, I can ask him to let you stay-"

"Yes, because he has always valued your opinion?" He scoffed as her then, and shot a scornful glare at her over his shoulder. "Just, go away Lysa."

How had she ever thought that he was beautiful, with his eyes that were so cold and with his nasty little lowborn features? The pain that Ser Jaime had left her with throbbed within her chest and it demanded her attention more. So fair enough, if Littlefinger did not want her help then she would not offer it. She spun on her feet then and marched towards her bedchamber, she was tired.

A few days later, when Baelish was given a small escort to take him back to the fingers. None of the Tullys were present to see him go and Lysa spared not a thought to him.

End of Chapter Sixty-Three.

* * *

 **Another chapter done and dusted.**

 **So, a quick couple of things about the duel.**

 **Okay, so Elbert of course has a squire while Brandon does not cause Squires are not so common in the North. Another thing that some people might noticed is that Elbert does not take off much of his armour like canon mentions that Brandon does when he sees Littlefinger's armour, or rather what he can get a hold of it. Which might make it seem like Brandon is being more honourable in canon then Elbert is here.**

 **But, Elbert is simply honouring Cat's request. Ending the fight as quickly as possible, disarming Petyr without hurting him beyond anything he can recover from. Brandon gave Petyr a dozen wounds, and a cut can be lethal in Westeros. Never mind the fact that he almost basically gutted him as well.**

 **Also yeah, canon tipping point in this Chapter. Not to give a lot away for the future, but I love writing Lysa. That is all.**

 **With a lot of love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


	64. Chapter 64

Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Sixty-Four

The twisting of the babe inside of her womb made Elia frown and let out a breath of air as she rested her hand on the swell of her belly, the babe had not granted her a single moment of peace as of late and there had been many nights when she had woke to the darkness with a dire need for the privy, unable to think of anything else till she had her relase.

Elia rubbed some soothing circles into the stretched flesh of her stomach and after a few moments of that, the babe seemed to settle. Not even born yet and she was kicking her like a cart horse. She could not know the babe's sex yet of course and yet Howland Reed had seemed convinced back at Harrenhal at the babe would be a girl and Elia could not deny that she was more than pleased with that, if he was right.

If the babe was a boy than she would be more than pleased and have no regrets, but she had already given Ned two sons and so a part of her could not deny that this time she hoped the little one growing inside of her would be a girl. She used to dream that her daughter and Ashara's daughter and Cat's daughter and Lyanna's daughter might be friends, close as sisters as Arianne and Tyene were.

That was like a not to happen now and it sent a surge of sadness through her and a small sigh escaped from her mouth before she could supress it and moments later a small hand came to rest on her knee and when Elia looked down, she saw a pair of grey eyes looking back up at her. "Mama sad?" Torrhen asked with a look of concern on his face that was far too serious for a babe and looked so much like his Father that Elia could not help but laugh.

To show her older son that she was not mocking him for the concern that he showed her, Elia reached down to pick the babe up and blanced him on her knee with his back to the swollen bump of her belly and bent her head to press a kiss to his curls. "My darling one, I am here with you and your brother. How in any way could I be sad when I have the both of you with me?"

That seemed to have satsified her oldest boy who started to kick his feet back and forth while his younger brother was making what looked like an entire keep out of wooden blocks that his Father had given him. Perhaps that should have named him Brandon instead of Mors, he seemed to like building things with those blocks well enough.

One a rough wall had been formed out of three rows of blocks stacked on top of one another, her younger son set on buliding the keeps inside his fortress wall. A few blocks were built up here, another few there and Elia had to wonder if her son had given these arrangments of blocks a purpouse in his own mind or if he was just putting the blocks together in a way that seemed right to him.

After a few more blocks were arranged, Mors began to stack the last of his blocks on top of one another. Higher and higher it climbed until all of his blocks had been used up and the babe was left with a very fearsome tower indeed, towering over every other structure he had built. It did not stay standing long as Mors reached out and pushed the tower of wooden blocks over, the collapse talking a section of the wall with it and spreading wooden blocks out across the floor, the boy who had wrought such destruction clapping his hands in delight and his laughter echoing around the nursery.

Elia tried to frown in disapproval, but she could not quite manage it. She held Torrhen close to her as she stood up so that he would not fall as she stood up to carry him before setting him down next to his brother and pressing a kiss to the top of Mors head. "Look at all the destruction you have brought my darling one, and after all of your hard work as well!"

"I can build it up again!" Was all the boy had for her as he set about doing just that, though this time he seemed to be forgoing the wall and just focused on the tower. In the end he came up with a much taller tower than the one he had before, but this time he did not need to push it down himself as it's own weight did that for him. A loud crash echoed through the room as the wooden blocks scattered across the stones.

Both her boys laughed that time and Elia smiled at that, laughter had seemed too rare a thing as of late within the walls of Winterfell. Word had reached Lord Rickard of what had happened at Harrenhal before they had returned and to say he was not best pleased would be understating it, somewhat. Lyanna was not to leave the castle walls without an escort of at least four guards and all her letters were to be read by the maester before they were sent off.

She knew that Lyanna was talking it hard, she had certainly not asked for Prince Rhaegar to crown her but he had done so, in a cruel mockery of what had happened to her at the tourney celebrating Rhaegar's betrohal to Lady Cersei. She didn't know what the Prince had been thinking, if he had done it out of stupidity or mallice towards his wife or whatever reason.

All she cared about in that moment was Lyanna, Ned had been somwhat distant to her ever since that and she knew that had hurt the younger girl even more than the distrust and the anger her Father had shown in her. Elia knew that Ned held no true anger for his sister nor any distrust, simply he did not no what to do or what to say to her, how to comfort her.

Benjen was the one silver lining that Lyanna had it seemed, not counting Elia, the boy had been as shocked as the rest of them of course and he drunk heavily the night of the incident. But the sore head in the morning was the only thing he held any resentment too. Benjen had been Lyanna's constant companion now more than ever before and every walking moment seemed to be spent on trying to get a smile on her face or for her to laugh, often making a fool out of himself in the process.

It reminded her somewhat of her girlhood days, when she had been confined to the halls of Sunspear or the Water Gardens do to being too sick and thus kept away from the other children and Oberyn would do all in his power to cheer her up, he had often failed to do so but he had often succeeded to as well. He would bring her toys, bringing her blood oranges that he had boasted that he had picked from the tallest trees in the Gardens, would give mocking names to the guards and the servants, some more cruel then they were witty but the ones that were witty had made her smile.

Sadly, Benjen had more a long line of failures to his name that Oberyn had. There had been moments when it seemed that Lyanna might have tried to smile, her lips had certainly twitched once or twice in her view but naught had come of them. Elia did not think she had ever seen the girl so morose even when her Father had nearly been on death's door.

She certainly had been spending more and more time in the godswood as of late, perhaps because it was the only place in Winterfell other than her own bedchamber where she might have some peace and solitude. Ned had said that his sister had never been overly devout but then they said that people turned to the gods when they could turn to no one else.

It saddened her to think that Lyanna might have come to a point where she did not think that she could turn to her or to Ned or to her Father or her younger brother but at the same time she could not blame her for coming to that conclusion. Lord Rickard had taken to not speak more than one or two words to his daughter at a time and most often those words were simple dismissals.

Elia did not need to wonder what Lord Rickard was thinking, it was more than likely what any Father would be thinking if his daughter had been crowned by the heir to the throne who was already married. Some lords might see the opportunity in that, the king taking another woman as a mistress was not something that was unheard of though in some cases it had not ended well, there had been a reason that no king since Aegon the Unworthy had officially taken a mistress after all.

But Lord Rickard was not that sort of lord, or maybe the fact was that he was exactly that sort of a lord but even so he had already had his own plans set out and they had been disrupted enough as it was without his daughter breaking her betrothal to become the paramour of the Prince. Elia had never been more thankful that Robert hadn't been more angry at Lyanna, if he had demanded the end of the betrothal then she did not want to think how Lord Rickard would react or what the news would do to him.

The Lord of Winterfell liked to act as though he was as strong as he had ever been but those that knew him well knew that was not the case, his skin had taken an unhealthy shade of grey as of late and he had been getting more and more tired as well, often times taking his meals in his bedchambers so he could find his bed and his rest as soon as he had eaten.

One of her maids had told her that she had overheard the maester speaking of having a stick carved for the lord to help him with his walking but Lord Rickard had ignored the suggestion and said that he would not hear of it. He was no cripple, he was the Lord of Winterfell and no man would ever help him to walk nor would he ever lean on anything either. He would stand on his own feet or not at all.

Elia wanted to slap the back of the man's head and to tell him to stop being as stubborn as an ox about it but she knew it wouldn't work, Lords would not suffer being told what to do in their own seats and Lord Rickard was not her brother, she doubted that she would be so easily forgiven if she decided to give him a slap. And when it came to Lord Rickard, she might want his forgiveness.

The thought of Doran still filled her with anger, even now. Oberyn had mentioned when they were at Harrenhal that when Doran was not holding court at Sunspear, he was brooding in his own private wing in the Water Gardens and Oberyn only saw him when he was summoned and their conversations were often short and to the point, according to Oberyn they felt more like being summoned by a lord to hear his commands than a brotherly chat.

Doran had sent her no letters, not since their argument. It had always been Oberyn who had sent the lion's share of messages to her but Doran always sent a letter or two now and then. Since their argument, not a word. She would have burned any letters he had sent her of course, but it disturbed her more than words could say that he had not even attempted to send a single one.

Maybe he felt the same way of her, she had written many letters to Dorne but not a single one was for the Prince. Perhaps Doran had too much pride too, and would not deign to try and write to her till she wrote to him first. If so, he would be waiting a long time indeed. She could not see herself letting go of the anger she held for him, not for a long time yet.

She tried to put the thoughts out of her mind as she helped her boys, Torrhen reaching out and trying to fix his brother's wall even though he did not have enough blocks to do so. Mors reached for some of the carved wooden soldiers that his grandfather had given to him and began to station them on the walls that were still somewhat standing.

A peaceful hour must have past at least before the door to the nursery opened, when Elia looked up she saw the nursemaid standing there, she bowed her head in respect and then spoke. "M'lady, you asked to be told when Lady Lyanna was ready to see you?"

"Yes, I did. Thank you Bette." Elia said as she stood up, remembering to bend down to press a kiss to the top of Mors's head before doing the same for Torrhen. "Both of you be good for Bette. Please remember to bundle them both up warm Bette, I swear by all the gods that it has gotten colder and colder with each day that has passed."

Perhaps it was the Old Gods, punishing them for the arrogance of thinking that Winter had passed. Many Northmen had thought it had passed before they had ventured down south for the tourney, men and women who had lived through a dozen winters in their lifetimes. None were more shocked than they as the cold kept back in as fierce snowstorms had hammered them almost day and night while the knights of the south had played at war.

Thankfully, it seemed the worst of the snowstorms has passed by the time they had made their was back past the Neck, though white was still falling steadily from the sky as they made their way back to Winterfell. Much of the snow had melted by now, but there was still a deep and bitter chill holding in the air even now that would not abate. Old Nan had sworn that it would start snowing again any day now, she could feel it in her bones she had sworn.

Perhaps that was partly the reason why Lord Rickard had been so insistent on sending Lyanna south now, bringing up the wedding to Lord Robert. He did not wish for her to be trapped up here by another snowstorm. Or mayhap it was more to do with what had happened at Harrenhal and Lord Rickard wanted to make sure that Lyanna was more secure.

Either way, it did not truly matter. The outcome would always be the same, this was to be Lyanna's last day in Winterfell. In a matter of weeks, she would have arrived at Storm's End and would be wed there. Ned would be the only one of her family attending her, Lord Rickard either did not have the strength or still held on to his anger and he would not allow Benjen to go.

Elia wished to go with her, to give her some support, but the babe had been restless and she had been feeling more drained as of late and the maester had suggested that such a journey would not be for the best, either for her own health or for the health of the babe. Elia could only hope that Lyanna would forgive her for it, but she could not risk the life of her babe for the sake of making her feel better.

As she was walking through the corridors of the Great Keep, a loud cry went up from the courtyard and Elia looked out the nearest window. Most of the men in her goodsister's honour guard were already mounted and ready to ride out but it seemed as though two of them had decided to pass the time with a sparring match.

She knew Jon Umber by a glance, she had met the heir to Last Hearth only once as she could recall, at her wedding feast but the sheer size of him was enough to identify him to her. There was no man larger than him in the North and he even gave that monster of a man who served Lord Tywin, the one who the mere thought of filled her with a dread that she could not understand, a good run for his coin when it came to height.

Howland Reed was already a small man, compared to Jon Umber he looked like a child. Jon wore heavy looking armour that Elia imagined that if she even tried to wear a piece of it would crush all of her bones into dust and carried a large sword that did not look any less lethal for having it's edges dulled. Lord Howland looked practically naked in comparison, wearing only a boiled leather breastplate, greaves and gauntlets. His sword looked more like an oversized dagger.

Not that he seemed overly concerned, the heir to Greywater Watch was like the water. When Jon Umber made to strike, Howland Reed just wasn't there. Ducking and dodging and jumping out of the way of the large sword blade. It reminded her of how Dornishmen fought, favouring lighter armour for being able to move quicker and faster.

The men of the Neck were said to poison their weapons as well, many might find that dishonourable but Elia remembered her history well and it could not denied it was an effective tactic. And it was not as though the men of the North had complained how the Crannogmen fought too harshly when they were faced with an enemy host coming up the causeway.

She had been so caught in her thoughts, she didn't notice how Jon Umber had ended up on his back until a string of curses went up in the air. Howland pointed his sword at Lord Umber and asked him if he yielded. Jon stared up at him dumbly, and then he started to laugh like a bellow. His chest heaving before saying that he yielded to him.

Men grumbled and passed coin to others, clearly Lord Umber had been the favourite to win and more were disappointed than happy with the result of the sparring match. As the coin was being passed around Elia caught sight of a young man watching all of this happening in disapproval, a frown so stern on his face that Elia imagined that it might have been chiselled that way.

Stannis Baratheon was a serious young man, and that was putting it lightly. He had been sent North along with his grandfather, Ser Eldon Estermont, to serve as the Baratheon compliment of the honour guard, to bring his brother's wife to him. Elia did not think she had seen him smile or laugh or have a conversation he had enjoy since he had arrived.

She might have thought that he was displeased with the match of his brother to Lyanna if she did not know any better but she had heard stories when she was still in Dorne, about how joyless Lord Stannis had been, how he had never laughed even before his parents had drowned off the coast of Storm's End, when a storm had swept in to Shipbreaker Bay.

It was funny to think that once upon a time, she had been worried that Ned would be joyless, that he would be so cold. She had been lucky, her husband could be cold when he wanted to be and could work to make you get to know him. But once you did, he could be as warm as the sun in Dorne. It was not right to judge, she knew, but she could imagine nothing warm about Stannis Baratheon.

At any rate, she hoped that he found something to make him happy. Or someone. With that last thought, she turned and began to make her way through the corridors until she arrived at the door outside of Lyanna's bedchamber.

The guards let her through, the maids had already been dismissed and Lyanna was awaiting for her within. A standing looking glass stood in the corner of the room and Lyanna was staring at herself in it. She was not wearing her wedding gown, she would only wear that on the day of the wedding itself and it would be close to a month before they arrived at Storm's End, even more if the snows came again.

But the dress she was wearing was similar to the wedding gown, the colours were the same. White and Grey and the sleeves were Myrish Lace, an extravagance in the North to be sure but nothing too unexpected for the first daughter of the Lord of Winterfell. Lyanna's face was serious, a frown on her pale face and her grey eyes looked sad, tired and defeated.

Elia tried to give a smile which she hoped was reassuring, moving to stand next to her and pushed a lock of errant black hair behind her ear. "The Maiden herself could not question such a beauty." It was a normal thing to say to a bride to be, she wasn't sure how much a comfort it would be to Lyanna but her words failed her and it was all the came to mind.

It seemed that it did not prove much comfort, as Lyanna snorted and moved away from the looking glass and from Elia. "I wish she could, Robert would not have me if I was hideous. If she could, Rhaegar would not have crowned me and none of this would be a problem." She slumped down on to the end of the bed, worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth.

"Stop that, you're going to make yourself bleed." Elia spoke gently as she sat down next to her and took hold of Lyanna's hand. Lyanna did not pull away from her, so she took that as a victory. "My dear, I know what you are feel. Doubts and fears are perfectly normal, I know that I had them. More than I count but now, I have a husband I love, two babes who are soon to be three. If my doubts were made to rule me, I would not be here and not half as happy. Be strong, it takes time. Sometimes less, sometimes more but you can find happiness."

Lyanna looked at her then, her grey eyes were wet and Elia wondered if she had ever truly seen her goodsister cry before. Even at Harrenhal, she had been more angry about how unfair it all was rather than upset, but she saw the tears now. Gods, she was so young. She was half a girl, all Elia wanted to do in that moment was to take her into her arms, stroke her hair and tell her that all would be well.

She did not have the chance though as the door opened then and Ned stood in the open doorway, it was so odd how she had found it so much easier to read her lord husband in the subtle motions of his face after all of this time. Back when she had come to Winterfell, she had thought such a face unreadable to any man, a man who held his secrets close.

But no, she could read it now like a favourite book. He wanted to say something to his sister, something to comfort her but his words failed him and so instead, he simply cleared his throat. "Lya, are you ready to go? We all prepared for the journey and there are dark clouds coming from the west, we'd like to get as far ahead of them as we can."

"I'm ready Ned." Lyanna said with a sigh, both guards came in and picked up her traveling trunk and carried it out of the room ahead of them and they followed slowly after them.

It seemed as though all of Winterfell was crammed into the yard at that moment, Lord Rickard stood as tall and as still as a statue, Benjen was shaking slightly and Elia know that it was not because of the cold, her babes were standing nearby clinging to the skirts of Bette, dressed in furs they both looked like a pair of fat little bear cubs.

Lyanna knelt in front of her Father and Rickard helped her up and pressed a kiss to the forehead, it was the most tender gesture that Elia had seen Lord Rickard give his daughter in too long. Lyanna then knelt in front of her younger brother and pulled him close for an embrace, when they pulled apart Benjen was the one who was weeping.

Lyanna held on tight and for a long time to both Mors and Torrhen, but both boys were too young to truly know what was happening, to understand that they were unlikely to see their aunt for a very long time. And then finally it was Elia's turn, Lyanna wrapped her arms around her and pressed a kiss to both her cheeks as she would her sister. Elia wondered if she would be able to taste the salt of her tears.

The she-wolf rested her hand on the swell of her belly and smiled, it was the saddest thing that Elia had ever seen though she could not say why. "Howland says she will be a girl." She spoke so softly that Elia almost didn't hear her. "They know things, the Crannogmen. They wed with the Children of the Forest and they know the old spells, if Howland says she'll be a girl. She'll be a girl."

"Name her for me?" Lyanna laughed then, even as her tears rolled down her cheeks. "There should always be a Lyanna Stark in Winterfell, even if only to cause some trouble."

Elia did not trust herself to speak, so instead she simply nodded. That seemed to please Lyanna well enough and then she turned and was helped up to mount her own horse. She looked almost strange on a palfrey, and stranger still riding side saddle.

Benjen turned and ran once half of the honour guard had ridden through the gate, Elia followed him. She already knew where he was going, each step seemed to take an eternity to climb but soon enough they had made it to the top of the battlements, as the last of the honour guard ride out.

Stormlandmen and Northmen rode together, men of Umber and Cerwyn and Locke, men of Estermont and Baratheon, Men of Reed and Bolton, Forrester and Whitehill, men of Stark and Karstack. The tips of their spears glinted in the cold winter sun even at they began to fade into the distance, becoming an indistinguishable shape.

And in the middle of it all, a grey girl atop a white horse. Riding out to her future.

Elia hoped it was a happy one, with all her heart did she hope.

The pain was so sudden, she almost didn't realise that it was a pain at all. Only when Benjen looked at her, his eyes wide, did she realise that she must have let out a gasp. Elia feel to her knees, her legs could no longer support her weight and she stared at her goodbrother for a long moment from where she knelt. "Fetch the Maester. Now!"

Benjen did not dawdle, he spun on his heels and ran, his voice echoing around them as he called for help. Elia tried to breath, tried to ignore the pains as they kept stabbing. She closed her eyes and prayed to the Mother for mercy as she put her hand between her legs. It was too soon, far too soon, two whole moons too soon for the babe.

When her hand came back red, she screamed.

End of Chapter Sixty-Four.

* * *

 **Welp. Damn.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry for the wait.**

 **I would also like to say that I am currently in the middle of rewriting some of the earlier chapters, at the time I was not in depth of my knowledge of ASOIAF and my writing skills were rough around the edges, to say the very least and I want to make these chapters better. I am not rewritting them to a schedual but please bare with me**

 **Please leave a review, a follow and a favourite. Constructive Criticism is always welcome.**

 **With a lot of love,**

 **DiscordantSymphony**


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